Nigeria?s Headline Inflation rises to 33.95 in May

The National Buereau of Statistics says Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 33.95 per cent in May 2024.  

In its latest report released today June 15, the  bureau stated that there was an increase of 0.26% points when compared to the April 2024 headline inflation rate.

The data revealed that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.54% points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023, which was 22.41%.

This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of May 2024 when compared to May 2023.

On the contrary, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2024 was 2.14%, which was 0.15% lower than the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.29%).

This, according to the NBS, means that in the month of May 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2024.

The NBS report also revealed that the Food inflation rate in May 2024 was 40.66% on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.84% points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023 (24.82%).

It added that the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: Semovita, Oatflake, Yam flour prepackage, Garri, Bean, etc (which are under Bread and Cereals Class), Irish Potatoes, Yam, Water Yam, etc (under Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable Oil, etc (under Oil and fat), Stockfish, Mudfish, Crayfish, etc (under Fish class), Beef Head, Chicken-live, Pork Head, Bush Meat, etc (under Meat class).

“Like the month-on-month headline inflation, the month-on-month Food inflation rate in May 2024 was 2.28%, also shows a decrease of 0.22% compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.50%).

The fall in the Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a fall in the rate of increase in the average prices of Palm Oil, Groundnut Oil (under Oil and Fats Class), Yam, Irish Potatoe, Cassava Tuber (under Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Wine, Bournvita, Milo, Nescafe (under Coffee, Tea and Coco Class).

The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending May 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 34.06%, which was 10.41% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in May 2023 (23.65%).” the report stated