JUST IN: Nigeria’s inflation rate dropped to 32.15% in August – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s inflation rate declined to 32.15 percent in August.

The NBS in a report released on Monday said the inflation eased the second time in 2024 after a 19-month increase that peaked at 34.19 percent in June.

“Looking at the movement, the August 2024 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.25% points when compared to the July 2024 headline inflation rate (33.40),” the report stated

It however said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).

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

Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%). This means that in August 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2024.

The report added that food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).

It said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of “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).”

But on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37 percent, a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47 percent).

“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,” NBS noted.

It added that the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending August 2024 over the previous 12-month average was 36.99 percent, which was 11.98 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01 percent).