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No letting up as Nigeria’s inflation gallops to 34.19%

Food prices continue to rise

By Clara Nwachukwu

No letting up as Nigeria’s inflation gallops to 34.19%

By Clara Nwachukwu

Continuous rise in the prices of food items pushed Nigeria’s headline inflation galloped to a 28-year high to 34.19% in June, a 0.24% jump from the 33.95% recorded in May, latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released today by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.

The jump comes despite efforts by the monetary and fiscal authorities to rein-in inflation.

Even worse, the monthly rate, which the authorities celebrated as decelerating for a couple months, did a reverse of 0.17% higher at 2.31% in June 2024, compared to 2.14% rise a month earlier.

Accordingly, Food & Non-alcoholic Beverages (17.71%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuel (5.72); Clothing & Footwear (2.62%); Transport (2.23%); and Furnishings & Household Equipment & Maintenance (1.72%) gave the highest push.

The CPI, which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living, also saw food inflation surging to 40.87% in the month under review.

In its summary of the report, the NBS said: “In June 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 34.19% relative to the May 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.95%. “Looking at the movement, the June 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24% points when compared to the May 2024 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40% points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023, which was 22.79%.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of June 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e. June 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31%, which was 0.17% higher than the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.14%).

“This means that in the month of June 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in May 2024.”

The rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by the rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of groundnut oil, palm oil, etc (oil & fats class), water yam, coco yam, cassava, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), tobacco, catfish fresh, croaker, mudfish fresh, snail, etc, (Fish Class).

Food inflation

At 40.87% rate of rise, a 15.62% uptick year-on-year (25.25%), the Bureau attributed the food inflation in June to increases in prices of items such as “Millet Whole grain, Garri, Guinea corn, etc (Bread and Cereals Class); Yam, Water Yam, Coco Yam (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class); Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class); and Catfish Dried, Dried Fish-Sardine, Mudfish (Fish Class), etc.”

The report continued: “On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.55% which shows a 0.26% increase compared to the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.28%),” the bureau said.

“The rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by the rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of groundnut oil, palm oil, etc (oil & fats class), water yam, coco yam, cassava, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), tobacco, catfish fresh, croaker, mudfish fresh, snail, etc, (Fish Class).”

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending June 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 35.35%, which was an 11.31% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in June 2023 (24.03%).”

According to the CPI, prices of food items rose the highest on a year-on-year basis in Edo (47.34%); Kogi (46.37%); and Cross River (45.28%); and lowest in Nasarawa (34.31%); Bauchi (34.78%); and Adamawa (35.96%) states.

On a month-on-month basis, it was Yobe (4.75%), Adamawa (4.74%), and Taraba (4.12%) states had the highest rate, while Nasarawa (0.14%), Kano (0.96%) and Lagos (1.25%) recorded the slowest rise.

All items less farm produce and energy

The CPI said: “The All items less farm produces and energy” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produces and energy stood at 27.40% in June 2024 on a year-on-year basis; up by 7.34% when compared to the 20.06% recorded in June 2023.

“The highest increases were recorded in prices of the following items: Rents (Actual and Imputed Rentals for Housing Class), Journey by motorcycle, Bus Journey intercity, etc (under Passenger Transport by Road Class), Accommodation Service, Consultation Fee of a medical doctor, Laboratory service, X-ray photography, etc (under Medical Services Class) and pharmaceutical products.”

On the other hand, it continued: “On a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 2.06% in June 2024. It stood at 2.01% in May 2024, an increase of 0.05%.

“The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 24.06% for the twelve months ending June 2024; this was 5.59% points higher than the 18.47% recorded in June 2023.”

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