Nigeria inflation drops to 24.48% in January following rebasing, says NBS

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined to a new low at 24.48 per cent year-on-year in January, following the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rebasing of the country’s economy.
The statistics office announced this on Tuesday, February 18, after rebasing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to reflect changes in consumption patterns.
Nigeria’s headline inflation had climbed sharply to 34.80 per cent in December 2024 as a result of President Bola Tinubu’s reforms on fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification.
The NBS decided to rebase the Nigerian economy and to release a report on the rebasing exercise last month but the organisation failed to do so.
The awaited report made the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shift its bimonthly monetary policy meeting twice this year.
Following its rebase of the CPI, which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and commodities, inflation declined to 24.48 per cent in January.
The CPI rebasing means updating the reference year used to gauge price levels in the country by essentially changing the basket of goods and services used to measure inflation, to better reflect current consumer spending patterns and ensure the inflation data accurately reflects the economy’s current state.
It involves replacing outdated items with new ones that better represent what people currently buy.
The inflation report from NBS shows that food inflation dropped to 26.08 per cent year-on-year in January from 39.84 in December 2024.
Similarly, core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, also declined to 22.59 per cent year-on-year year in January from 29.28 in December 2024.
The statistics office further stated that urban inflation dropped to 26.09 per cent compared to 37.29 per cent in December while rural inflation came down to 22.15 per cent from 32.47 per cent in December.
According to the NBS, the rebased CPI reflects the current inflationary pressure and consumption pattern of people living in the country.
The statistical office, however, stated that the decline in the rebased inflation did not mean the general price level was declining.
It pointed out that the major factor responsible for the drop in inflation was the base year of 2024 being closer to the current year.
“Unlike in the past, where the base year was 2009, the base year for the rebased CPI is 2024. Meaning, we are comparing prices in 2025 with prices in 2024 instead of 2009. Also, the CPI baskets are not the same.
‘The CPI figures provided the needed information for the government, firms, and households to make informed decisions on matters related to price levels and changes in prices,” the NBS said.
Commenting on the rebasing methodology, an economist analyst, Uche Uwaleke, a professor of Capital Market at the Nasarawa State University said what happened was a change in methodology to capture the true inflationary state of the Nigerian economy.
“It all gears towards making our CPI figures marginally comparable to what is obtainable globally. The CPI manual advised that while rebasing, ensure that your price basis is as close to the current year as possible. The pricing methodology previously used was 2009, the rebasing corrected that and used 2024 pricing,” Uwaleke stated.