Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has decreased to 24.48% in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This development comes after the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to better reflect changes in consumption patterns, with 2024 serving as the new base year for calculating inflation.

The inflation rate for December was 34.80%, which the NBS attributed to increased demand for goods and services during the festive season.

However, the larger trend shows a sharp rise in inflation following President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove costly subsidies and devalue the naira.

These reforms aimed to strengthen public finances and stimulate economic growth, but many Nigerians argue that they have only pushed more people into poverty without significant positive economic turnaround.

Food inflation, which accounts for over 50% of Nigeria’s old inflation basket, slightly eased to 39.84% in December, down from 39.93% the previous month.

The NBS reported that the increase in the headline index for January 2024 was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level, including food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, and transport.