Nigeria's headline inflation rate soared to 33.88% in October 2024, as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.
This marks a significant rise of 1.18 percentage points from the 32.70% recorded in September 2024.
According to the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released on Friday in Abuja, the latest figures also reflect a year-on-year increase of 6.55% compared to October 2023, where inflation stood at 27.33%.
The rise in inflation is attributed to higher costs of food, transport, and essential goods, placing additional pressure on household budgets across the nation.
In addition, the report said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.64 percent, which was 0.12 percent higher than the rate recorded in September 2024 at 2.52 percent. This means that in October 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than in the average price level in September 2024.
The report said the increase in the headline index for October 2024 on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level. It said these increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel, clothing and footwear, transport and furnishings, household equipment and maintenance.
Others include education, health, and miscellaneous goods and services, restaurants and hotels, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and kola, recreation and culture, and communication.