The most realistic sign that the Federal Government’s economic policies are not yielding the desired result emerged again today as figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show a relentless rise in the rate of inflation from 33.88% in October to 34.60% in November.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) in furtherance of efforts to curtail the rise in inflation took the following measures during 298th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on November 25–26, 2024.
- Raising the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 25 basis points to 27.50%
- Retaining the Cash Reserve Ratio at 50% for Deposit Money Banks and 16% for Merchant Banks
- Retaining the Liquidity Ratio at 30%
- Retaining the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500/-100 basis points
Despite these measures which the current management of the CBN had embarked upon since assuming office, the rate of inflation continues to soar, thereby confirming the contrary opinion of analyst who think the apex bank is not only prescribing the wrong medication but has missed the diagnosis.
Further, the NBS figure indicates that on a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 6.40% points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (28.20%). This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in November 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., November 2023).
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It is noteworthy to observe however, that on a month-on-month basis, the “Headline inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.638%, which was 0.002% points lower than the rate recorded in October 2024 (2.640%). This means that in November 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024,” it was stated in the report.
Food inflation after easing at the peak of the harvest period between July and September has spiked, rising, year on year from 39.16% in November 2023 to 39.93% at the end of November 2024.
Month on month, the rate rose gently from 2.94% at the end of October to 2.98% in November.
2.98 39.93
The NBS stated in the report that, “Every month, 10,534 informants spread across the country provide price data for the computation of the CPI. The market items currently comprise 740 goods and services regularly priced.”
