Yesterday, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) shook up the nation’s economic discourse by releasing its own inflation figures, which diverge significantly from the official statistics reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), prompting a fresh examination of the country’s economic indicators.
In its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for June 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a marginal increase in the headline inflation rate, with the figure edging up from 33.95% in May to 34.19% in June, a rise of 0.24 percentage points.
In a brief exchange with Vanguard, Kelvin Oye, the head of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), dropped a bombshell, claiming that inflation had skyrocketed to over 90%, but refused to provide additional context.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that food inflation climbed to 40.87% in June, up from 40.66% in May 2024, driven by substantial price increases in a range of food items, including millet, garri, guinea corn, yams, potatoes, cocoyams, and other essential bread and cereal products.
The NBS’ data drew reactions from financial analysts, who pointed out that the numbers eclipsed both individual and consensus projections, signaling a more severe inflationary trajectory.
NBS stated: “In June 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 34.19 percent relative to the May 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.95 percent.
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“Looking at the movement, the June 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24 percentage points when compared to the May 2024 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.4 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023, which was 22.79 percent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of June 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e. June 2023).
“The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: Millet Whole grain, Garri, Guinea corn, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Water Yam, Coco Yam (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class) and Catfish Dried, Dried Fish-Sadine, Mudfish (Fish Class), etc.
