Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 32.15% in August 2024, down from 33.40% in July 2024, reflecting a decrease of 1.25 percentage points, data from the NBS shows.
This marks the second consecutive monthly slowdown in inflation, following a similar trend in the previous month.
This is according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
However, on a year-on-year basis, the August 2024 inflation rate was 6.35 percentage points higher than the 25.80% recorded in August 2023, indicating a significant rise over the past year.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation stood at 2.22% in August 2024, slightly lower than July’s 2.28%, signalling a slower pace of price increases compared to the previous month.
Food Inflation
Food inflation in August 2024 reached 37.52% year-on-year, marking an 8.18 percentage point increase from the 29.34% recorded in August 2023. Month-on-month, food inflation stood at 2.37%, reflecting a slight decrease of 0.10 percentage points from the 2.47% rate in July 2024.
The average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending in August 2024 was 36.99%, representing an 11.98 percentage point increase compared to the 25.01% average recorded in August 2023.
Core Inflation
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like agricultural products and energy, stood at 27.58% year-on-year in August 2024, an increase of 6.43 percentage points compared to 21.15% in August 2023.
The report highlighted that the largest increases in core inflation items were seen in rents, intracity bus and motorcycle fares, accommodation services, laboratory services, X-ray photography, and medical consultation fees.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation rose slightly to 2.27% in August 2024, up by 0.11 percentage points from 2.16% in July 2024. The average annual core inflation rate for the twelve months ending August 2024 was 25.18%, a 6 percentage point rise from the 19.18% recorded in August 2023.
Urban and Rural Inflation
In urban areas, the inflation rate reached 34.58% year-on-year in August 2024, an increase of 6.89 percentage points compared to 27.69% in August 2023. On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation stood at 2.39%, slightly down from July’s 2.46%.
Rural inflation in August 2024 was 29.95% year-on-year, up by 5.85 percentage points compared to 24.10% in August 2023. On a month-on-month basis, rural inflation edged down to 2.06%, a slight decrease from July’s 2.10%.
Nairametrics
