In December 2024, Nigerian households’ purchasing power was further squeezed as consumer prices heightened throughout the year, putting more pressure on the Central Bank to hike rates in the new year. Official data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that headline inflation, which tracks the prices of food, energy, and other commodities, marginally rose to 34.80%.
The major driver of Nigeria’s inflation is food—the prices of staples and proteins—rose as many shoppers sought cheaper alternatives during the festive period. December’s food inflation figure was 39.84%.
“I expect to see a slight increase in inflation, going by the frenzy buying typically associated with the festivities and noting that food inflation is still very much on the high, due to seasonal effect,” said Samuel Oyekanmi, an analyst at Norrenberger.
The release of the data provided a much-needed reprieve after a cyberattack crippled the NBS website on December 18, halting the dissemination of crucial economic indicators.
The website finally came up by 1 PM (WAT), an hour after the report was usually released. Earlier, it sent a notice stating that the site was being set up by engineers.
“It is like the website was taken offline completely,” said one ethical hacker speaking to Condia. “Three weeks to resolve a hack is unusual. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to get a website back online.”
Around this time last year (Jan 2024), the Central Bank said that it was aiming for a 21% inflation rate after the prior year closed at 28.92%. Rather, the inflation rate of 2024 closed at about 14% higher.
Recently, the President said the country’s 2025 budget will reduce inflation to 15%. Of course, analysts are sceptical. An NESG-Stanbic IBTC Business Confidence Monitor report projected Nigeria’s inflation to moderate to 27.1% by December 2025.
“Despite the rebasing, I don’t see us achieving lesser inflation figures in 2025,” Oyekanmi added. “However, there could be a possibility in the coming years if 2025 serves as a test run for stability.”
With food prices at a multi-decade high, the Central Bank is widely expected to adopt a hawkish stance at its upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting later this month.
