By Abiola Olawale
Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased to 33.95% in May 2024, the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.
This represents a 0.26 per cent point increase from the 33.69% recorded in April 2024.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.54 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023, which was 22.41 per cent. This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in May 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., May 2023).
The NBS also identified the primary drivers of inflation as follows: 17.59 per cent attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages, 5.68 per cent to housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel, 2.60 per cent to clothing and footwear, 2.21 per cent to transport, and 1.71 per cent to furnishings, household equipment, and maintenance.
The New Diplomat reports that Nigeria has been witnessing a consistent upward trend of inflation rate for the past eight months.
The persistent rise has continued to place a huge economic burden on Nigerians.
