The naira gained against the U.S. dollar in the official market and closed flat in the parallel market, halting losses after experiencing an appreciable decline in the past two days.
Despite the increase in Nigeria’s headline inflation rate to 27.33% in October, up from the September 2023 rate of 26.72%, as released today by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The October 2023 headline inflation rate represents a 0.61 %-point increase compared to the figure for the previous month of September.
Additionally, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24% points higher than the rate recorded in October 2022, which stood at 21.09%.
The exchange rate between the naira and dollar rose to N818.99/$1 on Wednesday at the official market.
This represents an N31.23 gain or a 3.81% increase in the local currency compared to the N850.22 it recorded on Tuesday.
The intraday high recorded was N1100/$1, while the intraday low was N751.00/$1, representing a wide spread of N348.78/$1.
According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading was $173.51 million, representing a 20.87% increase compared to the previous day.
However, the naira closed flat at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate closed at N1140/$1 as against the same N1140/$1 it quoted on Tuesday, representing 0.00%, while peer-to-peer traders quoted around N1127.01/$1.
October Inflation
Nigeria’s inflation rate jumped to 27.33% in October 2023 as prices of foodstuff continued to increase in the aftermath of the removal of fuel subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
This was according to the October 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.
The CPI, which measures the changes in the prices of goods and services, rose from 26.72% to 27.33% showing an increase of 0.61% points.
- “In October 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 27.33% relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72%,” the report partly read.
- “Looking at the movement, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61% points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.
- “Furthermore, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09%).
- “This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in October 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., October 2022).”
