Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Surges to Over 27 Percent Amid Rising Food Prices

By Xinhua

November 16, 2023

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate surged to over 27 percent in October, partly attributed to the relentless rise in food prices across the West African nation, a report by the government statistics agency showed Wednesday.

The headline inflation rate rose to 27.33 percent in October, up 0.61 percentage points when compared to the 26.72 percent recorded in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its latest report.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was 21.09 percent, according to the NBS.

According to the report, factors responsible for the increase in the annual inflation rate include the rising cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 14.16 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel at 4.57 percent; transport, at 1.78 percent; education, at 1.08 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 29.29 percent in October, showing it was 7.66 percentage points higher compared to the 21.63 percent recorded in October 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.81 percent last month, some 0.43 percentage points lower compared to the 2.24 percent recorded in September.

Likewise, on a year-on-year basis, the rural inflation in October rose to 25.58 percent, some 5.01 percentage points higher when compared to the 20.57 percent recorded in October last year. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in October was 1.67 percent, showing a decline of 0.29 percentage points when compared to the 1.96 percent recorded in September.