Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 28.9 per cent in December 2023 due to the rise in food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

This was disclosed in the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34 per cent,” the NBS stated.

It added, “This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022).”

According to the bureau, food prices soared by 2.72 per cent, a 0.30 per cent increase from the rate recorded in November.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.72%; this was 0.30% higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42%),” it said. 

The agency stated that the year-on-year increase in food inflation was due to higher prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and eggs.

 “The rise in Food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of oil and fat, meat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish and milk, cheese, and egg. 

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96 per cent, which was a 7.02 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94 per cent).

 “In December 2023, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (44.73 per cent), Kwara (41.33 per cent), and Imo (39.54 per cent), while Bauchi (27.49 per cent), Jigawa (27.98 per cent) and Sokoto (28.72 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis. 

“On a month-on-month basis, however, December 2023 food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (4.42 per cent), Ogun (4.11 per cent), and Enugu (4.03 per cent), while Nasarawa (1.48 per cent), Delta (1.65 per cent) and Niger (1.67 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in inflation on a month-on-month basis,” NBS said.

Before the report’s release, the country’s inflation rate was 28.20 per cent as of November 2023. 

In October 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 27.33 per cent relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 26.72 per cent.