According to data released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 27.33 percent in October. Compared to September’s reported 26.72 percent, this is a 0.61 percentage point decrease.
The NBS said, “In October 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 27.33 per cent relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72 per cent,” in its Consumer Price Index (October 2023) that was issued on Wednesday.
“Looking at the movement, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61 percentage points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.
“Furthermore, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09 per cent). This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in October 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., October 2022).”
Major contributors to the increase in inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity gas and other fuel, clothing and footwear, transport, and furnishings and household equipment and maintenance.
The continued rise in inflation has been attributed to the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate. In its recent forecast for the year, KPMG predicted that Nigeria’s headline inflation may rise to 30 per cent by December 2023 because of fuel subsidy removal, and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
