NIGERIA’s headline inflation rose to 34.19 per cent in June from 33.95 per cent in May.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed the June inflation figure on Monday, July 15.

It stated that the headline inflation rate increased by 0.24 per cent points when compared to the May rate.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40 per cent points higher compared to the 22.79 per cent rate recorded in June 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 rose to 2.31 per cent, higher than the 2.14 per cent rate recorded in May 2024, representing a 0.17 per cent increase.

A look at the inflation figures in the first half of the year on a month-on-month basis shows that the pace of inflation accelerated sharply in the first two months of the year, slowed down in the three months that followed but jumped up in June.

On a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate has continued to inch up in higher.

In June 2024, the food inflation also rose to 40.87 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the 25.25 per cent rate recorded in 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,” NBS stated.

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in June 2024 also rose to 2.55 per cent compared to the 2.28 per cent recorded in May 2024.

“The rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by the rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class), Water Yam, Coco Yam, Cassava, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Tobacco, Catfish Fresh, Croaker, Mudfish Fresh, Snail, etc, (Fish Class),” the statistics office added.

At a recent event, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, attributed the continuous rise in the inflation rate to the government’s borrowings and interventions.

He said the country was reaping the consequences of the N27 trillion Ways and Means CBN borrowed from the federal government and the N10.5 trillion it spent on intervention programmes, which have created a situation where a lot of money supply went into the economy.

As inflation increases, the apex bank committee further raises the benchmark interest rate.

The ICIR reports that the increase in the inflation figure in June will further put pressure on households’ disposable incomes as commodities prices will spark and on businesses as banks’ lending capacity will dwindle.

At the beginning of the year, the CBN set a 21.4 per cent inflation target by the end of the year but inflation has been on the increase in the first half of the year.

While inflation is likely to reverse downwards before the end of the year, it is unlikely will drop to CBN’s 21.4 per cent.

Experts have identified the real pressures driving inflation as food inflation, arising from higher cost of transportation of farm produce; infrastructure-related constraints along the line of distribution network; security challenges in some food-producing areas; and exchange rate pass-through to domestic prices for imported food items.

“Reducing Nigeria’s high inflation is both an economic and a political imperative of the first order,” a member of the MPC, Aloysius Ordu, said.

Inflation has been wreaking havoc on consumers, particularly those on the lower end of the income scale who are more acutely feeling the pain from high inflation, particularly since the last year of President Bola Tinubu following his removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the exchange rate.

Another impènding factor expected to keep inflation on the rise is the possible upward review of the minimum wage, however, a decision the MPC will take at its meeting to be held later this month will determine how inflation would further impact the economy.

The ICIR reported earlier that eating healthy food in Nigeria now costs N1,035.

The ICIR’s further findings showed that as of May 2023, when President Bola Tinubu assumed office, the cost of a healthy diet was N503. With this new data, the price increased by 105.77 per cent in one year.

That is more than double the amount paid to eat a healthy meal one year after Tinubu’s assumption.