Nigeria’s headline inflation rate climbed to 34.6% in November 2024, up from 33.88% in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS report highlighted that on a year-on-year basis, inflation rose by 6.4 percentage points compared to 28.2% in November 2023. Food inflation, a significant component, surged to 39.93% year-on-year, marking a 7.08 percentage point increase from November 2023’s 32.84%.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation for November 2024 stood at 2.98%, slightly higher than October’s 2.94%. The sharp rise was driven by price increases in staple items such as rice, yam flour, fish, eggs, meat, and milk.
Nigeria’s economic challenges have intensified since the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. These policies led to petrol prices quadrupling and the naira depreciating significantly, exacerbating inflationary pressures.
Economic analysts warn that these figures signal the deepening of a cost-of-living crisis for Nigerians, as the country battles what is considered one of its most severe inflationary periods since independence.
