By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday said inflation in Nigeria increased by 1.18 per cent in October 2024 to 33.88 per cent from 32.70 per cent in September 2024.
This was aggravated by the rise in food inflation in the month despite the country witnessing a harvest season.
The agency disclosed that in the month under review, the food inflation rate went up by 7.64 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 39.16 per cent from 31.52 per cent in the same period of last year.
The rise was blamed on the rate of increase in the average prices of palm oil, vegetable oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class), Mudfish, Croaker (Apo), fresh fish (Obokun), etc (Fish Class), dried beef, goat meat, mutton, skin meat, etc (Meat Class), and bread, guinea corn flour, plantain flour, rice, etc (Bread and Cereals Class).
The data from the NBS showed that on a year-on-year basis, in October 2024, the urban inflation rate was 36.38 per cent, 7.09 per cent higher than the 29.29 per cent recorded in October 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.75 per cent last month versus 2.67 per cent achieved in the preceding month.
It was stated that the corresponding 12-month average for the urban inflation rate was 34.52 per cent in October 2024, which is 9.76 per cent higher than the 24.76 per cent reported in October 2023.
Further, the rural inflation rate in October 2024 was 31.59 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 6.01 per cent higher than the 25.58 per cent recorded in October 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.53 per cent, higher than the 2.39 per cent posted in September 2024 by 0.14 per cent.
It was revealed that the corresponding 12-month average for the rural inflation rate in October 2024 was 30.24 per cent versus the 22.23 per cent recorded in October 2023.