Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 34.80% in December 2024, up from 33.60% in November, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The increase was driven primarily by transportation costs, although food inflation showed a marginal decline to 39.8% from 39.9% in November. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as agricultural produce and energy, rose to 29.3% in December, up from 28.75% the previous month.
The NBS announced that it is revising its methodology for calculating inflation, rebasing the CPI and expanding the range of items in the basket for the first time in 16 years. With 2024 as the new reference year, the share of food in household budgets will decrease from 51.8% to 40.1%, while the weight for housing, energy, and electricity will drop from 16.7% to 8.4%.
Surging inflation led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to raise its key interest rate by 875 basis points last year. However, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso expressed optimism in November that inflation would ease in 2025.
The CBN’s next monetary policy decision is scheduled for February 18, 2025.
