Abuja – Nigeria’s inflation rate has risen to 34.19% in June 2024, up from 33.95% in May 2024, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The headline inflation rate saw a 0.24% increase in June compared to May 2024, marking the highest rate so far this year.
This comes amid the rising cost of food items across the country, pushing basic commodities beyond the reach of millions.
The NBS said the headline inflation rate, year-on-year basis, jumped in June 2024 when compared to the same month in the last year.
It said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31%, 0.17% higher than the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.14%).
“This means that in the month of June 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in May 2024,” the economic watchdog said in its CPI report.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.55% which shows a 0.26% increase compared to the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.28%).”
According to the NBS, this hike was triggered by a rise in the average prices of food items such as groundnut oil, palm oil, etc (oil & fats class), water yam, cocoyam, cassava, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), tobacco, catfish fresh, croaker, mudfish fresh, snail, etc, (fish class).
Nigeria is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, leading to widespread hardship and anger.
A litre of premium motor spirit (PMS), also called petrol costs more than three times what it did early 2023, while the price of the staple food, rice, has more than doubled in the past year.
These two figures highlight the difficulties that many Nigerians are facing as wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living.
Like many nations, Nigeria has experienced economic shocks from beyond its shores in recent years, but there are also issues specific to the country, partly driven by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu when he took office last year’s May.
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