Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation rate, sustained its upward swing in May this year rising by 0.26% Month-on-Month (M-o-M) to 33.95%, from 33.69% in the preceding month.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its ‘‘CPI and Inflation Report May 2024’ report published on its website today, attributed the increase in the headline inflation in the month mainly to food inflation which hits 40.66%, from the 40.53% rate recorded in April this year
Specifically, the statistics agency linked the increase in food inflation rate to surges in prices of 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).
On state profile, the Bureau reported that Kogi State had the highest rise in food inflation year-on-year,YoY, with 46.32% while Gombe State had the highest m-o-m rise with 4.88% .
The Bureau clarified: “In May 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.95 percent relative to the April 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.69 percent .
“Looking at the movement, the May 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.26 percent points when compared to the April 2024 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.54 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023, which was 22.41 percent.
“On the contrary, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2024 was 2.14 percent which was 0.15 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.29 percent)“, the NBS added.
On the food inflation trend, it reported 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 percent, also shows a decrease of 0.22 percentage points compared to the rate recorded in April 2024 (2.5 percent).
“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 Potato, Cassava Tuber (under Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Wine, Bournvita, Milo, Nescafe (under Coffee, Tea and Coco Class)”, the statistics agency added.
A further analysis of the CPI report on the food component reflected that in the month under review, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (46.32 percent), Ekiti (44.94 percent), Kwara (44.66 percent), while Adamawa (31.72 percent), Bauchi (34.35 percent) and Borno (34.74 percent), recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis.
However, on a M-o-M basis, in May this year Food inflation was highest in Gombe (4.88 percent), Kano (4.68 percent), and Bayelsa (3.62 percent), while Ondo (0.02 percent), Yobe (0.95 percent) and Adamawa (1.02 percent) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Month-on-Month basis.”
