Inflation rate in Nigeria takes an all time high driven mainly by the high cost of food, fuel, drugs and transportation, as well as the dwindling fortune of the naira, even as local production of foods in particular continues to drag. This is contained in the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which stated that the April 2024 headline inflation rose to an all-time high of 33.69 per cent.
The NBS attributed the increase to the high cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages. The agency said the rise in food inflation was necessitated by the increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers. It also fingered rise in cost of fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese and eggs. Even within the first half of the year there was a surge in the cost of commodities. For instance, the agency said the food inflation rate in April 2024 was 40.53 per cent compared to 40.4 per cent recorded in March 2024.
During the review period, the NBS said on a divisional level, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 17.45 per cent to inflation, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel contributed 5.64per cent. Now, because the country is dependent on imports, clothing and footwear accounted for 2.58 per cent, since the local currency, which has been largely left to float since last year, has been on a downward swing.
Generally, the report indicates that inflation rose marginally by 0.49 per cent on a month-on-month basis against the March 2024 inflation which surged by 1.5 per cent to a record 33.20 per cent.
When compared with what obtained during the same period in the past year, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report recorded a surge of 11.47 per cent from the 22.22 percent recorded in April 2023. It further surged by 15.92 per cent on a year-on-year basis, against the 24.61 per cent rate of April 2023.
Of much concern is that the rural communities, where purchasing power is usually very low, is not insulated from the inflationary trend. Survey there shows that in April 2024 inflation was 31.64 percent yearly. This was 10.50 per cent higher than the 21.14 per cent recorded in the preceding year.
Conversely, in the urban areas the inflation rate rose to 36.00 per cent, which was 12.61 per cent points higher compared to the 23.39 per cent recorded in April 2023.
A close study of the report also shows that there had not been a let up in the inflationary trend since the beginning of the year, as it increases every month. This raises fears that hunger may increase, notwithstanding claims by the government that it was working towards massive production of food items locally.
