Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will take the unusual step of publishing two separate inflation figures for December to ensure transparency amid concerns of a dramatic, but artificial, spike in the data.
The move comes after a recent rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the first time in over 15 years, which changed the base year to 2024 and updated the basket of goods used for calculations.
This methodological shift is projected to cause the December inflation rate to jump to over 30%, a significant increase from November’s 14.5%.
However, officials stress this is a purely technical “base effect” and an “arithmetic issue,” not a reflection of worsening economic conditions.
To avoid misleading policymakers and the public, the NBS will release both the artificially spiked figure and another that reflects the country’s true economic fundamentals.
