The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation rate increased slightly from 34.60% in November to 34.80% in December 2024.
The most recent Consumer Price Index report, which was made public on Wednesday, stated that the slight increase of 0.20% was caused by increased demand for goods and services during the holiday season.
In comparison, the December inflation rate increased by 5.87 percentage points year over year from 28.92% in December 2023.
This demonstrates how economic issues like currency depreciation, rising energy prices, and ongoing supply chain disruptions are driving consumer prices upward.
The average inflation rate for the 12 months ending December 2024 was 33.24%, up from 24.66% during the same time in 2023, according to the NBS study.
It read, “In December 2024, the headline inflation rate was 34.80 per cent relative to the November 2024 headline inflation rate of 34.60 per cent.
“Looking at the movement, the December 2024 headline inflation rate showed a marginal increase of 0.20 per cent compared to the November 2024 Headline inflation rate. This was due to December festive period increases in demand for goods and services.
“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 5.87% higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (28.92 per cent). This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2023).”
The increase is a result of year-round constraints on living expenses that impact both urban and rural regions.
According to the research, the largest portion of inflationary pressure—18.02 percent of the total—was attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Other significant factors were transportation (2.26^), housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (5.82%), and others.
The contributions from industries like communication and health were lower, with 0.24^ and 1.05%, respectively.
During the reviewed period, urban inflation was higher than rural inflation.
In comparison to December 2023, when it was 31.00^, the urban inflation rate for December 2024 was 37.29^, an increase of 6.30 percentage points.Urban inflation decreased little from 2.77% in November to 2.56^ on a month-over-month basis.
In contrast, rural inflation increased to 32.47% year-over-year, 5.37 percentage points more than the 27.10% rate in December 2023.
But there was also a little decrease in the rural inflation rate month over month, which fell from 2.51^ in November to 2.32^.
The analysis also showed that food inflation kept rising, rising from 33.93% in December 2023 to 39.84% in December 2024 on an annual basis.
Price rises for commodities such dried fish, rice, yams, and maize were blamed for the surge.
Despite this, food inflation decreased marginally month over month to 2.66% from 2.98% in November due to price cuts in products including tubers, soft drinks, and local beer.
Core inflation, which does not include energy and volatile agricultural products, increased from 23.06% in December 2023 to 29.28% in December.
The NBS noted that the sharpest price increases were observed in transport fares, meals at local restaurants, and personal grooming services.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation climbed to 2.24% in December, higher than the 1.83% recorded in November.
State-by-state analysis showed that Bauchi recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate at 44.06%, followed by Sokoto at 42.43^ and Kebbi at 41.47%.
On the other end, Katsina, Delta, and Imo recorded the lowest inflation rates, with Katsina posting 28.33%.
For food inflation, Sokoto led the figures with a staggering 57.47% year-on-year, while Zamfara and Edo followed with 46.39% and 46.32%, respectively.
Conversely, Yobe, Kano, and Abuja recorded month-on-month declines in food inflation.
The rise in inflation, particularly during a period of high consumer spending, highlights the ongoing economic challenges facing Nigerians.