In April 2024, the headline inflation rate rose to 33.69%, up from 33.20% in March 2024, marking an increase of 0.49% points according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Comparing year-on-year data, the inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47% points higher than in April 2023, where it stood at 22.22%. This indicates that the headline inflation rate has risen significantly over the past year.
Additionally, on a month-to-month basis, the inflation rate for April 2024 was 2.29%, which is 0.73% lower than the 3.02% recorded in March 2024. This suggests that the rate at which prices increased in April 2024 was slower than the rate in March 2024.
This was according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday.
“In April 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.69% relative to the March 2024 head line inflation rate which was 33.20%,” the Bureau said in its report.
Looking at the movement, the April 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.49% points when compared to the March 2024 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.47% points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2023, which was 22.22%.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of April 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., April 2023).
“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in April 2024 was 2.29%, which was 0.73% lower than the rate recorded in March 2024 (3.02%). This means that in the month of April 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of in crease in the average price level in March 2024.”
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last weeks, as Nigerians continue to battle with high cost of living and one of the country’s toughest economic crises sparked by the current government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows. The naira, which initially appreciated against the dollar in April, tumbled from about N1,100/$1 to about N1,500/$1.
With the fresh inflation report by the NBS, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), expected to review the country’s interest rate from 24.75%.
