Lagos (Nigeria) – Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that the headline inflation rate for October 2023, increased to 27.33% relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72%.

The monthly report of the Consumer Price Index, which measure inflation which was released on Wednesday in Abuja by the NBS, showed that the October 2023 headline inflation rate increased by 0.61% points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.“Furthermore, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09%).

“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), the NBS said.

It attributed the major contributors to the increase in inflation to food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity gas and other fuel, clothing and footwear, transport, and furnishings and household equipment and maintenance.

On urban inflation, the NBS noted that on a year-on-year basis, in October 2023, the Urban inflation rate was 29.29%, this was 7.66% points higher compared to 21.63% recorded in October 2022.

It added that the Rural inflation rate in October 2023 was 25.58% on a year-on-year basis; this was 5.01% higher compared to the 20.57% recorded in October 2022.

According to the NBS, the Food inflation rate in October 2023 was 31.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.80% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (23.72%).

It explained that the rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Oil and fat, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables and Milk, Cheese and Eggs.

GIK/APA