Nigeria’s inflation rate has risen to 26.72 per cent in September 2023, the highest level since April 2022, according to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report, which was released on Monday via the NBS Twitter handle, showed that the consumer price index, which measures the average change in prices of goods and services consumed by people over time, increased by 0.92 per cent from 25.80 per cent in August 2023.
The NBS attributed the surge in inflation to the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both of which had significant impacts on the cost of living.
It said, “September 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 26.72 per cent relative to the August 2023 headline inflation rate which was 25.80 per cent.
“Looking at the movement, the September 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.92 percentage points when compared to the August 2023 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.94 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022, which was 20.77 per cent.
” This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in September 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., September 2022).”
The report also revealed that food inflation rose to 29.64 per cent in September from 28.67 per cent in August, while core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce, increased to 23.81 per cent from 23.01 per cent.
The NBS said that the highest increases were recorded in prices of bread and cereals, meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese and butter, oils and fats, fruits and vegetables.
Urban inflation rose to 27.59 per cent in September from 26.64 per cent in August, while rural inflation increased to 25.93 per cent from 25.02 per cent.
All items inflation on a month-on-month basis was highest in Kogi (4.21 per cent), Bauchi (3.75 per cent) and Oyo (3.58 per cent), while Plateau (0.98 per cent), Kaduna (1.05 per cent) and Rivers (1.06 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.
Food inflation on a month-on-month basis was highest in Kogi (5.06 per cent), Bauchi (4.47 per cent) and Oyo (4.13 per cent), while Plateau (1.01 per cent), Kaduna (1.09 per cent) and Rivers (1.10 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.
The NBS promise to continue to monitor the price movements of goods and services across the country and provide timely and accurate data for policy making and planning.
