The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released its latest report on inflation, showing that the headline inflation rate rose to 27.33 per cent in October 2023, the highest level since November 2013. This represents a 0.61 per cent point increase from the previous month of September, and a 6.24 per cent point increase from the same month last year, when the inflation rate was 21.09 per cent.
According to the NBS, the main driver of inflation was food, which increased by 31.52 per cent on a year-on-year basis, up from 23.72 per cent in October 2022. The NBS attributed the rise in food prices to the increases in the prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.
The report also showed that the core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products and energy, reached 22.58 per cent in October 2023, compared to 15.34 per cent in October 2022.
The NBS report revealed that the states with the highest inflation rates were Kogi (41.74 per cent), Kwara (38.48 per cent), and Lagos (37.37 per cent), while the states with the lowest inflation rates were Borno (24.41 per cent), Kebbi (24.90 per cent), and Jigawa (25.10 per cent).
The NBS stated that the inflation report was based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average change in prices of goods and services consumed by people over a period of time. The NBS also said that it used data from its monthly Household Survey, which covers all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
