Subsidy Removal, Naira Fall Push Food Inflation to 30.64%.

The Subsidy removal and naira devaluation has pushed food inflation to 30.64 per cent in September, worsening inflationary pressures in the country.

The prices of food caused the Consumer Price Index to surge to 26.72 per cent in September, the National Bureau of Statistics disclosed on Monday.

This showed 0.92 percentage point increase from the 25.80 per cent recorded in August. The NBS revealed this in its CPI report for September.

Despite the increase in inflation rate, the NBS claimed that the rate of increase in the average price level in September was less than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2023.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.84 per cent) contributed the most to inflation. This was followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel (4.47 per cent), clothing and footwear (2.04 per cent), transport (1.74 per cent), furnishings and household equipment and maintenance (1.34 per cent), education (1.05 per cent), and others.

The rise in September’s food inflation was driven by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese, and eggs.