By Charles Ebi
A bleak Yuletide looms for Nigerians as the country’s inflation rate rose for another month, hitting a multi-year high of 34.60% in November 2024, up from 33.88% in October, spurred by increases in food and electricity costs thereby deepening economic hardship across the nation.
The headline inflation rate is lower than the 33.88 per cent recorded in October 2024, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS.
This is according to the latest Consumer Price Index ,CPI, and Inflation Report by the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS.
On a month-on-month basis, the report revealed a 0.72% rise in headline inflation, marking a significant increase compared to the 28.20% recorded in November 2023.
Food inflation, a major driver of the overall rise, jumped to 39.93% in November, up from 39.19% in October.
Urban inflation was recorded at 37.10%, while rural inflation stood at 32.27%, highlighting a widespread cost-of-living crisis across the country.
Looking at the movement, the November 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72% points compared to the October 2024 headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.40% higher than the 28.20% recorded in November 2023. This shows that the average prices of goods and services increased in November 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year.
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.638% which was 0.002% points lower than the rate recorded in October 2024 ,2.640%.
This means that in November 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024.
The NBS data also showed that the food inflation rate in November 2024 was 39.93% on a year-on-year basis, 7.08% points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 ,32.84%.
The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: yam, water yam, coco yam, potatoes, and other tubers, guinea corn, maize grains, rice, beer and consumable oils.
On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.98% which shows
0.05% points increase compared to the rate recorded in October 2024 ,2.94%.
The rise is attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of mudfish, catfish dried, dried fish sardine, rice, yam flour, millet whole grain, corn flour, agric egg, powdered milk, fresh milk, and the meat class.
The core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 28.75% in November 2024 on a year-on-year basis, rising by 6.36% from 22.38% recorded in November 2023.
NBS noted that the highest increases were recorded in prices of transportation, accommodation, and services.
However, the Core Inflation rate on a month-on-month basis dropped by 0.3% from 2.14% in October 2024 to 1.83% in November 2024.
The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 26.64% for the twelve months ending November 2024, this was 6.29% points higher than the 20.35% recorded in November 2023.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending November 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 38.67%, which was 11.58% points higher compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2023 ,27.09%.
The rise in inflation comes as the Monetary Policy Committee ,MPC, of the Central Bank of Nigeria ,CBN, hiked interest rates for the sixth time this year by 25 basis points to 27.50%. This year alone, the apex bank hiked rates by 875 basis points.
The hike in prices of goods and services persists despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ,CBN, monetary tightening measures under Governor Olayemi Cardoso.
The CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee raised the benchmark interest rate to 27.50% in November, following a prior hike to 27.25%.
However, these interventions have yet to yield significant relief, as prices of goods and services remain elevated, worsening living conditions for many Nigerians.
The latest rise in figure contrasts with the declining rates observed in July and August 2024, further underscoring the volatile state of Nigeria’s economy.
