Nigeria’s inflation hits 25.8% in August, marking seventh consecutive increase

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate surged year-on-year by 1.72 percentage points, reaching 25.8 percent in August, compared to 24.08 percent in July, according to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This marks the seventh consecutive increase in inflation within the country this year.

The NBS, in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for August, revealed that food inflation rate also saw a year-on-year rise of 2.36 percentage points, climbing to 29.34 percent in August from 26.98 percent in July.

The spike in food inflation was attributed to price hikes in oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, as well as vegetable, milk, cheese, and eggs.

Explaining the data, the NBS stated: “In August 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 25.80% relative to the July 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 24.08%. Looking at the movement, the August 2023 headline inflation rate shows an increase of 1.72 percentage points when compared to the July 2023 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.27 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022, which was 20.52 percent. This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in August 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., August 2022).

“Similarly, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2023 was 3.18%, which was 0.29% points higher than the rate recorded in July 2023 (2.89%). This means that in August 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.29 percent higher relative to July 2023.”

Regarding food inflation, the NBS reported, “The Food inflation rate in August 2023 was 29.34% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022 (23.12%).

The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetable, milk, cheese and eggs.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2023 was 3.87%, this was 0.41 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2023 (3.45 percent).

The rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, oil and fat, coffee, tea, and cocoa.”

The report also highlighted that Kogi, Lagos, and Rivers recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rates for all items, while Sokoto, Borno, and Nasarawa had the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.