The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that the December 2024 headline inflation rose to 39.84 per cent, 5.91 per cent points higher than in December 2023 (33.93 per cent).
The bureau disclosed this in its latest consumer price index (CPI) publication.
The NBS also reported that the December headline inflation rose marginally by 0.20 per cent to 34.80 per cent from 34.60 per cent in November.
It attributed the development to increased demand for goods and services during the December festive period.
However, the bureau said the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending December 2024, compared to the previous 12-month average, was 39.12 per cent, which was 11.16 percentage points higher than the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2023, which was 27.96 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, the NBS said the headline inflation rate was 5.87 per cent higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (28.92 per cent).
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2023),” the NBS said.
On the contrary, the bureau said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2024 was 2.44 per cent, which was 0.20 per cent lower than the rate recorded in November 2024 (2.64 per cent).
“This means that in December 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2024,” the report added.
According to the report, the food inflation rate in December 2024 was 39.84 per cent yearly, 5.91 per cent points higher than in December 2023 (33.93 per cent).
It explained that the contributions of items on the divisional year-on-year level to the increase in the headline index are food and non-alcoholic beverages (18.02 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel (5.82 per cent), clothing & footwear (2.66 per cent), and transport (2.26 per cent),.
Others are furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.75 per cent), education (1.37 per cent), health (1.05 per cent), miscellaneous goods & services (0.58 per cent), restaurant & hotels (0.42 per cent), alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola (0.38 per cent), recreation & culture (0.24 per cent) and communication (0.24 per cent).
The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending December 2024 over the average for the previous twelve-month period was 33.24 per cent, showing an 8.58 per cent increase compared to 24.66 per cent recorded in December 2023.
The NBS said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: yam, water yam, sweet potatoes, etc. (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), beer, pinto (tobacco class), guinea corn, maize grains, rice, etc (bread and cereals class), and dried fish-sardine, catfish dried, etc (fish class).
On a month-on-month basis, the bureau said the food inflation rate in December 2024 was 2.66 per cent, which shows a 0.32 per cent decrease compared to the rate recorded in November 2024 (2.98 per cent).
“The decline can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of local beer (burukutu), pinto (tobacco class), fruit juice in tin, malt drinks, etc. (soft drinks class), rice, millet, maize flour, etc. (bread and cereals class) and water yam, Irish potatoes, coco yam, etc. (potatoes, yam and other tubers class).
“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 39.12 per cent, which was 11.16 per cent points higher compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2023 (27.96 per cent),” the report said.
