Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Hits 34.80% as NBS Site Comes Back Online One Month After Hack
- NBS CPI report shows that Nigeria's headline inflation has hit 34.8%, about 0.20% higher than the 36.6% from the previous month
- Food inflation showed a slight decline to 39.8%, a bit lower than the 39.93% recorded in November 2024
- The NBS website has also been restored and is back online, almost one month after it was hacked
Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.
Nigeria’s inflation surged to 34.80% in December 2024, according to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report just released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The December 2024 report was released via a link on the NBS' official X (formerly Twitter) account.
Source: Getty Images
The report shows that Headline inflation increased marginally by 0.20% from 34.60% in November 2024. NBS says this increase was driven by increased demand for goods and services in December due to the festivities.
This implies that Nigerians' purchasing power saw a further squeeze in December 2024.
Year-on-year, headline inflation grew by 5.87%, higher than the 28.92% reported in December 2023. The month-to-month growth rate was lower than that of the previous month, indicating that the inflation surge is slowing down.
“On the contrary, the month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in December 2024 was 2.44%, which was 0.20% lower than the rate recorded in November 2024 (2.64%). This means that in December 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2024.”
Food inflation slightly declined
The report reveals that the food inflation rate in December 2024 was 39.84% on a year-on-year basis, which is about 5.91% points higher than the rate in December 2023 (33.93%).
This increase was driven by staple foods and grains, including Yam, Water Yam, Sweet Potatoes, Guinea Corn, Maize Grains, and Rice.
Month-on-month, the food inflation rate was 2.66%, a 0.32% decrease from the 2.98% recorded in November 2024. This shows a decline in food inflation.
The X post gave the summary thus;
"In December 2024, the Headline inflation rate was 34.80% from 34.60% in November 2024. Month-on-Month, the Headline inflation rate in December 2024 was 2.44%. While Food Inflation Rate was 39.84% Year on Year."
Samuel Oyekanmi, analyst at Norrenberger says the statistics is in line with earlier predictions that December would see a slight increase due to the seasonal purchases.
As to the question of whether inflation would abate, Oyekanmi says 2025 might not be the year when that would happen, despite the GDP rebasing.
He, however, observed that if Nigeria's economy achieved stability in 2025, then the lower inflation figures could start trickling in from subsequent years.
NBS website back online
In the same stroke, the NBS website, which was hacked a month ago, has been restored back online.
The website still contains previous reports released by the statistical body before the hack, indicating that all data was safely recovered.
The website also shows a slightly different interface.
Concerned Nigerians expressed their willingness to assist the NBS with an alternative website if it was unable to recover the hacked one.
NBS site hacked in December
Recall that Legit.ng reported that hackers breached the NBS website on December 18, 2024, barely hours after it released several reports.
The website was unavailable, and the NBS announced in an X post that it had been hacked.
It said that efforts were underway to recover the website.
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Source: Legit.ng
