Nigeria’s inflation rate has declined for the second consecutive month, dropping from 34.19% in June to 33.40% in July, and now down to 32.15% in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
According to the Consumer Price Index report released by the Bureau, the headline inflation rate eased to 32.15% in August 2024, while food inflation stood at 37.52% in the same month.
“Looking at the movement, the August 2024 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.25% points when compared to the July 2024 headline inflation rate,” the NBS stated.
“However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%). This means that in August 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2024.”
The NBS said food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items, bread, maize, grains, guinea corn, bread, cereals yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, vegetable oil, among others.
In August 2024, food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Sokoto (46.98%), Gombe (43.25%), and Yobe (43.21%) while Benue (32.33%), Rivers (33.01%) and Bayelsa (33.36%), recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis.
On a Month -on-Month basis, however, August 2024 Food inflation was highest in Adamawa (5.46%), Kebbi (4.48%), and Borno (3.88%), while Ogun (0.08%), Akwa-Ibom (0.45%) and Sokoto (1.00%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Month-on-Month basis.