Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to 24.48% in January, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The bureau also pegged food inflation at 26.08% year-on-year.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of NBS, Adeyemi Adeniran, attributed the decline to the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s inflation basket, a move aimed at aligning the country’s inflation measurement with global standards.
“The last time Nigeria rebased its inflation calculation was in 2009, meaning that prices of goods from that period were still being used as a reference,” Adeniran explained.
He added, “This update allows for methodological improvements that enhance accuracy and ensure consistency with international best practices.”
As part of the rebasing process, the NBS adjusted the base year from 2009 to 2024 and introduced key methodological changes.
One significant improvement was the adoption of the latest Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) 2018 version, replacing the 1999 version.
The update expands the classification system to 13 divisions, incorporating household expenditure on insurance and financial services, which now accounts for 0.5% of total household spending.
Other changes include the exclusion of own-production, imputed rents, and gifted items from inflation calculations to ensure the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflects only monetary expenditures.
Also, expenditures on meals consumed outside the home have been reclassified for more accurate price measurement.
The NBS stated, “In December 2024, the Headline inflation rate was 34.80% relative to the November 2024 headline inflation rate of 34.60%.
“Looking at the movement, the December 2024 Headline inflation rate showed a marginal increase of 0.20% compared to the November 2024 Headline inflation rate.
“This was due to the December festive period increases in demand for goods and services.
“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 5.87% higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (28.92%).
“This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2023). On the contrary, on a 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.”
It added, “The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending December 2024 over the average for the previous twelve-month period was 33.24%, showing an 8.58% increase compared to 24.66% recorded in December 2023.”
On urban inflation, NBS stated that on a year-on-year basis, in December 2024, the urban inflation rate was 37.29%, 6.30% points higher compared to the 31.00% recorded in December 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.56% in December 2024, this was 0.21% points lower compared to November 2024 (2.77%).
The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 35.57% in December 2024. This was 9.36% points higher compared to the 26.22% reported in December 2023.
The Bureau also stated that rural inflation rate in December 2024 was 32.47% on a year-on-year basis.
This according to NBS, was 5.37% higher compared to the 27.10% recorded in December 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the Rural inflation rate in December 2024 was 2.32%, down by 0.19% points compared to November 2024 (2.51%).
The corresponding twelve-month average for the Rural inflation rate in December 2024 was 31.14%. This was 7.89% higher compared to the 23.25% recorded in December 2023.
In summary, the NBS stated, “Food Inflation rate stood at 26.08%; Core Inflation rate stood at 22.59%; Urban Inflation rate stood at 26.09%; Rural Inflation rate stood at 22.15%.
“Special indices introduced and their inflation rates. (Base Period: 2024 = 100). Farm Produce – 10.50%. All items less farm produce- 10.70%. Energy index – 8.9%. Services Index – 10.41%. Imported food index – 11.47%
“Note: the rates reported for the new indices are for January 2025 compared to the base year.”
Adeniran emphasized that the rebasing process was conducted without political interference and noted that inflation would have still declined in January even if the changes had not been implemented.
