Nigeria’s consumer price index (CPI), which measures the general price level in the economy, rose to 28.92% in December from 28.20% recorded in the previous month and represented 0.72 percentage points month-on-month increase, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Monday.
The rise in December inflation rate marked the eleventh consecutive month had been rising during the year.
The Bureau reported that when compared to December 2022 inflation rate of 21.34%, the December 2023 rate represented a year-on-year increase of 7.58% points.
According to the statistics agency, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate for December 2023 surged by 2.29% compared with the 2.09% recorded in the preceding month.
An analysis of the CPI report based on Food Inflation trend showed that in the month under review, the year-on-year food inflation rate surged to 33.93%, representing 10.18% points increase from the 23.75% recorded in the corresponding month of 2022.
The Bureau attributed the surge primarily to increased prices of Oil and fat, Meat, Bread and Cereals, Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers, Fish, and Milk, Cheese, and Eggs.
It disclosed that on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate for December 2023 stood at 2.72%, representing a 0.30% increase from the 2.42% rate observed in the previous month
On Core Inflation, the report reflected that the rate rose 23.06% on a year-on-year basis in December 2023, indicating a 4.85% increase compared to the 18.21% reported in December 2022.
The Bureau clarified that notable surges were observed in the prices of Passenger Transport by Road, Medical Services, Actual and Imputed Rentals for Housing, Passenger Transport by Air, Pharmaceutical products, Accommodation services, and more.
In addition, the CPI data indicated that on a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate for December 2023 was 1.82%, reflecting a 0.29% increase from the 1.53% recorded in the preceding month just as the average twelve-month annual inflation rate stood at 20.76% for the twelve months ending December 2023, marking a 4.74 % point increase from the 16.02% recorded in December 2022.
A further decomposition of the December 2023 CPI rate on Urban and Rural basis showed that in December 2023, the year-on-year Urban inflation rate rose to 31.00%, indicating an increase of 8.98% points compared to the 22.01% recorded in the corresponding month of 2022.
However, on a month-on-month basis, the Urban inflation rate for December 2023 reached 2.42%, showing a 0.19% point rise from the 2.23% rate recorded in November 2023
Similarly, report showed that the year-on-year Rural inflation rate in December rose to 27.10%, representing a 6.38% increase from the 20.72% rate recorded in December 2022.
The NBS further clarified that on a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate for December 2023 reached 2.17%, reflecting a 0.18% point uptick compared to the 1.99% rate recorded in the preceding month.
It added that the corresponding twelve-month average for the Rural inflation rate in the month under review stood at 23.25%, representing a 4.91% increase from the 18.34% recorded in December 2022.
