Tough days await Nigerians as inflation passes 31%

Tough days await Nigerians as consumer prices continue to rise across the West African country.

Nigeria’s February Consumer Price Index (CPI) , otherwise known as inflation, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that headline inflation jumped up by 1.8 percentage points (ppts) to 31.7%, the highest level since April 1996.

The rising inflation pressure shows that Nigeria remains within the top 10 countries with the highest inflation reading in Africa.

Food inflation reading stands at 37.9% in February 2024, 2.5 percentage points higher than in January 2024.

“On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the headline inflation rate was 9.79% points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2023, which was 21.91%,” says the NBS.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (YoY, basis) increased in February 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2024 was 3.12%, which was 0.48% higher than the rate recorded in January 2024 (2.64%).

“This means that in February 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in January 2024.”

On food inflation, it stated: “The food inflation rate in February 2024 was 37.92% on a YoY basis, which was 13.57% points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2023 (24.35%). The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, oil and fat, meat, fruit, coffee, tea, and cocoa.

Nigeria is facing tough economic realities, with the prices of food, transportation, and other basic services rising to their highest levels.

This was largely blamed on the eventual removal of subsidy on fuel by the Nigerian government, insecurity, and a lack of implementation of government policies to effect the needed change as and when expected.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that 8.0% of Nigerians may likely face the risk of food insecurity if the current trajectory continues.