The Statistician-General (S-G) of the Federation, Mr. Adeyemi Adeniran, announced on Tuesday in Abuja that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 24.48 per cent in January 2025.
Mr. Adeniran, who is also the Director General of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistic (NBS) told a news conference in Abuja that the rebased result of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released in Abuja was 10.32 per cent less than the inflation rate recorded in December 2024.
He explained that the CPI is a key macroeconomic indicator that reflects the movement of aggregate price levels in a country and that it is expected to be rebased every five years.
But Mr. Adeniran said that the last CPI rebasing in Nigeria was conducted in 2009.
He, however, emphasised the importance of rebasing the CPI regularly due to changes in consumption patterns over time, which necessitates an update of the items in the CPI basket.
According to him, rebasing is designed to ensure that Nigeria’s economic indicators accurately reflect the current structure of the economy, incorporating new and emerging sectors, updating consumption baskets, and refining data collection methods.
Adeniran also said that part of the process of rebasing the CPI included bringing the base year closer to the current period – 2009 to 2024.
Giving the breakdown of the rebased CPI, Adeniran said: “The All-Items Index, which is used to measure headline inflation for January 2025, was 110.7, resulting in a headline inflation rate of 24.48 per cent on a year-on-year basis.”
He explained that the increase was mainly driven by Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages, Restaurants and Accommodation Services and Transport.
According to him, the Food Index for January 2025 was 110.03, which resulted in a food inflation rate of 26.08 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
“Core Index, which is All-Items less farm produce and energy for January 2025, was 110.7, which gave rise to a core Inflation rate of 22.59 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
“The urban inflation rate for January 2025 was 26.09 per cent, while the rural inflation rate was 22.15 per cent,” he said
Adeniran clarified that the CPI results do not indicate a reduction in the prices of goods and services in the market, but rather measure the rate at which those prices were decreasing.
GIK/APA