The National Bureau of Statistics has reported a surprising decline in food inflation to 38.84% in December 2024, despite increased consumer spending during the festive season.
This marks a 0.32% drop from the 39.16% recorded in November 2024.
However, the headline inflation rate in December increased slightly to 34.80%, up by 0.2% from 34.60% in November 2024.
The Consumer Price Index report shows that year-on-year headline inflation was 5.87% higher than the 28.92% recorded in December 2023.
The NBS ascribed the increase in headline inflation to higher costs for products and services in various categories, including food and non-alcoholic beverages (18.02%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (5.82%), clothing and Footwear 2.66%, Transport 2.26%, Education 1.37%, Health 1.05%.
On a month-over-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2024 rose by 2.44%, slightly lower than the 2.64% increase recorded in November.
Food inflation on a year-on-year basis increased by 5.91% points compared to December 2023’s rate of 33.93%.
However, on a monthly basis, the index decreased by 0.32%, reflecting a slight decrease in the prices of some food items.
The year-on-year increase in food inflation was due to increases in prices of essential items such as corn, rice, maize, yam, water and coconut yam.
Month-on-month, the food inflation rate climbed by 2.98% in December, marginally higher than October’s rate of 2.94%.
Key items contributing to this increase included palm oil, vegetable oil, mudfish, croaker (apo), and fresh fish (obokun).
The inflation rate for urban consumers stood at 37.29% year-on-year in December 2024, 6.30% points higher than the 31.00% recorded in December 2023.
On a monthly basis, urban inflation grew by 2.56%, slightly lower than November’s 2.77%.
For rural consumers, the inflation rate rose to 32.47% year-on-year, a 5.37% point increase compared to the 27.10% recorded in December 2023.
The average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending December 2024 stood at 39.12%, an 11.16 percentage point increase from the 27.96% recorded in December 2023.
The NBS findings highlight persistent inflationary pressures, especially in food prices, despite minor month-to-month relief.
Analysts suggest that addressing supply chain bottlenecks and agricultural productivity will be critical in managing inflation in 2025.
