The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has revealed that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate for October 2023 has risen to 27.33 percent, which is 0.9 percent less than the 28.2 percent recorded in August 2005, 18 years ago.
In its report released on Wednesday, the NBS stated that the year-on-year basis inflation rate was 6.24 points higher than the rate recorded in October 2022, which was 21.09 percent.
The NBS explained that the rise in headline inflation rate was due to an increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level. These items include food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel, clothing & footwear, transport, furnishings & household equipment and maintenance, education, health, miscellaneous goods & services, restaurants & hotels, alcoholic beverages, tobacco & kola, recreation & culture, and communication.
The food sub-index for October 2023 also increased to 31.52% on a year-on-year basis, which is 7.80% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (23.72%). This rise in food inflation rate was due to increases in the prices of bread & cereals, oil & fat, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, and milk, cheese, and eggs.
However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.91%, which was 0.54% lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.45%). This was due to a decrease in the average prices of fruits, oil and fat, coffee, tea and cocoa, bread, and cereals.
