The World Bank, in its recent announcement on Monday, predicts that Nigeria’s inflation rate will decline to 24.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in 2024.
World Bank’s projection follows the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reporting the current rate at 31.7 per cent in February, up from 29.9 per cent recorded in January.
Also, the report reaffirms a 3.3 percent economic growth projection for Nigeria in 2024.
However, the Bank has slightly adjusted its outlook for 2025 to 2026, lowering it by 0.1 percentage point to 3.6 percent from the initial January projection of 3.7 percent.
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The World Bank highlighted that food inflation and currency depreciation remain great factors driving inflation across countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
It said:
“Inflation is cooling in most Sub-Saharan African economies but remains high. The median inflation in the region is projected to fall from 7.1 per cent in 2023 to 5.1 per cent in 2024 and 5 per cent in 2025–26.
“The normalization of global supply chains, steady decline of commodity prices, and impacts of monetary tightening and fiscal consolidation are contributing to a lower rate of inflation in the region.
“Although inflation is receding in most countries in 2024, it remains high compared to pre-pandemic levels: inflation is projected to decrease in about 80 per cent of African countries compared with 2023, but it is still higher than pre-pandemic levels in 32 of 37 countries.
“Moreover, 14 countries in the region still exhibit persistently high levels of inflation (two or more digits) this year—with a median inflation rate that has dropped modestly from 25.9 per cent in 2023 to 24.8 per cent in 2024.
“Growth in Nigeria is projected at 3.3 per cent in 2024 and 3.6 per cent in 2025–26 as macroeconomic and fiscal reforms gradually start to yield results.”
