The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a year-on-year increase in the headline inflation rate to 26.72% in September 2023. This marks a 0.92 percentage point rise compared to the 25.8% recorded in August.
The NBS, in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, also noted that the food index increased year-on-year to 30.64% from 29.34% in August.
The rise in food inflation was attributed to higher prices for items such as oil, fat, bread, cereals, potatoes, yams, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.
NBS stated, “In September 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 26.72%, compared to the August 2023 rate of 25.8%. This represents a 0.92 percentage point increase when comparing the two months.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.94% points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022, which was 20.77%.
This indicates that the headline inflation rate in September 2023 increased when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., September 2022).
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in September 2023 was 2.1%, which was 1.08% lower than the rate recorded in August 2023 (3.18%).
This means that in September 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level was less than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2023.
Regarding food inflation, the NBS reported that “the food inflation rate in September 2023 was 30.64% on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.30 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022 (23.34%).”