The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s inflation rate declined to 32.15 percent in August – the second consecutive decline recorded in 2024.
The NBS in its consumer price index (CPI) report for August, released on Monday revealed that the CPI, which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, declined by 2.22% on month-on-month basis compared to the rate recorded in July 2024.
Also according to the NBS report, food inflation for the month of August dropped to 37.52% as prices of major food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to slow down.
The headline inflation rate in August showed a decrease of 1.25 percent points when compared to the July 2024 headline inflation rate. 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%).
The NBS in its report said the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 percent on a year-on-year basis, showing an 8.18 percent increase compared to the rate recorded in June 2023 (29.34 percent).
“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, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable, etc (Oil & Fats Class) and Ovaltine, Milo, Lipton, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class),” the NBS said.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37% which shows a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47%).
“The fall can be attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of Tobacco, Tea, Coco, Coffee, Groundnut Oil, Milk, Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, Palm Oil, Vegetable etc.
“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending August 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 36.99%, which was 11.98% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01%).”