Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 34.19% as food prices surge

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 34.19% in June 2024, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This is an increase of 0.24% points when compared to the inflation figure of 33.95% for May 2024 released by the NBS.

The headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 11.40 percentage points higher compared to June 2023, rising from 22.79%.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31%, an increase of 0.17% points from May 2024’s rate of 2.14%.

This indicates that the average price level increased at a faster rate in June 2024 than in May 2024.

Food inflation

The food inflation rate in the month under review was 40.87% year-on-year compared to 40.66% recorded in May 2024. This is 15.62 percentage points higher than the rate of 25.25% recorded in June 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.55%, reflecting a 0.26 percentage point increase from May 2024’s rate of 2.28%. The month-on-month rise in food inflation was driven by the increased prices of items such as groundnut oil and palm oil.

Core inflation

Core inflation for the month stood at 27.40% on a year-on-year basis, up by 7.34 percentage points compared to 20.06% in the corresponding period of last year.

On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 2.06% in June 2024, an increase of 0.05 percentage points from 2.01% in May 2024. The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 24.06% for the period ending June 2024, which was 5.59 percentage points higher than the 18.47% recorded in June 2023.

Urban and Rural inflation

In the month under review, the urban inflation rate was 36.55% on a year-on-year basis, this is 12.23 percentage points higher than the 24.33% recorded in June 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.46%, reflecting a 0.11 percentage point rise from that of May which is 2.35%.

On the other hand, the rural inflation rate in June was 32.09% on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.71 percentage points higher than the 21.37% recorded in June 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.17%, up by 0.23 percentage points compared to May 2024’s rate of 1.94%.

Inflation rate in states

In June 2024, the headline inflation was highest in Bauchi (43.95%), Kogi (39.91%), and Oyo (39.15%). On the other hand, Borno (25.90%), Benue (27.52%), and Katsina (29.21%) experienced the slowest rise in headline inflation year-on-year.

On a month-on-month basis, the highest increases were recorded in Yobe (3.79%), Abuja (3.45%), and Ondo (3.38%), while Nasarawa (0.71%), Osun (1.19%), and Kano (1.27%) had the slowest month-on-month inflation increases.