Tougher times lie ahead for Nigerians as inflation has risen from 33.95% in May 2024 to 34.19% in June.
This increase of 0.24 percentage points highlights the persistent inflationary trend that has emerged since last year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which released the statistics on Monday, said the increase was mainly due to the sharp increase in food prices, which rose to 40.87% year-on-year in June 2024, a massive increase of 15.62 percentage points.
The rise in food inflation was due to significant price increases in various categories such as cereals, tubers, oils, and fish products. Food inflation month-on-month stood at 2.55% in June 2024 compared to 2.28% in May 2024, an increase of 0.26 percentage points.
The increase is due to the continued rise in prices of staple foods such as oils, tubers, and fish. Food inflation averaged 35.35% for the year to June 2024, up 11.31 percentage points from 24.03% in June 2023.
This reflects the continued pressure on food prices over the past year. At the same time, overall year-on-year inflation was significantly higher at 34.19% in June 2024 than 22.79% in June 2023, up 11.40 percentage points.
On a monthly basis, overall inflation also increased slightly, declining to 2.31% in June 2024 compared to 2.14% in May 2024. This represents an increase of 0.17 percentage points in the average price level for the month.
In summary, the latest data from the NBS indicates that inflationary pressures, particularly in food prices, continue to weigh on the Nigerian economy, affecting private consumption and overall economic stability.
Meanwhile, the government assured Nigerians that food shortages are being addressed and prices of inputs will come down soon.
Minister of Agriculture, Aliyu Abdullahi, who made the revelation on television yesterday, admitted that “over the past few years we have not been taking our dry season agriculture seriously,” but noted that the ministry is acting on it.
He said prices of inputs would be brought down through some federal government programmes.
“You will see a lot of programmes trying to dampen [reduce prices] the situation,” he revealed.
“Agriculture has a time scheme. There’s a lot of production going on right now. It’s the rainy season now, and if you look at the fields you see a lot of cultivation going on. These crops are not food. In three months they will become food. So until then, this story you are talking about will continue
“We realized over the past few years that we have not been taking our dry season agriculture seriously,” he declared.
According to the NBS, food inflation has hit over 40 percent in the past few months, putting staple food prices out of reach for millions of Nigerians, while overall inflation stood at 34.19 percent as of June 2024.
