Goli Innocent 
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 28.92 per cent in December 2023 from 28.20 per cent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.
The statistics office said the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 per cent points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate.
The NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34 per cent.
An important part of Nigeria’s inflation basket, the rate of food inflation increased to 33.93% in December from 32.84% in November. The statistics office reported price rises for a range of food products, including cereals and bread, oil, fish, meat, fruit, and eggs.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022),” it said.
Analysts link the loss of the naira currency and increased fuel prices to the rising inflation.
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David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, stressed that “inflationary pressures are only likely to build from here,” citing second-round effects from the removal of a fuel subsidy last year and naira weakness.
He predicted inflation exceeding 30% by the end of the first quarter, expecting it to peak around the middle of 2024.
The goal of President Bola Tinubu’s drastic economic reforms from last May was to spur economic growth. These measures included depreciating the currency and eliminating an expensive gasoline subsidy. However, as inflation keeps getting worse, economic growth has been sluggish to rebound.
A rate-setting meeting has not yet been called by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who took office in September.
In order to show that the CBN is taking inflation seriously, Capital Economics’ Omojomolo stated that rates could need to be raised by 400 basis points to 22.75% at the next meeting.
But if the CBN fails, there’s fear that the momentum and hope around President Tinubu’s economic policy change from the previous year will be weakened.
