Mary Ogunloye, an accountant who works for a top audit firm in Ikoyi, Lagos, had made it an annual ritual to buy gifts and hampers for neighbours and friends at Christmas.

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However, Ogunloye has changed this habit due to the high cost of these items. She now thinks of her family alone, complaining that the intensifying cost-of-living crisis has hit her hard.

“I will be sharing a bag of rice with my loved ones this Christmas. I will buy a roll of tomato puree to add to it,” she said, noting that she is cutting down on spending this season owing to inflationary pressures.

“I cannot afford to buy hampers and gift cards again this year as they are very expensive now. I used to buy a hamper at N35,000 last year, but this now sells at N120,000,” she said.

Debora Ayodele, a sales representative at a firm in Ikeja, Lagos, said her family is cutting down on gift items to orphanages this Christmas due to their surging prices. Ayodele said she would not be giving any gifts to her family pastors and neighbours.

“You cannot go to the market with a budget anymore, because prices keep rising daily,” she said. “Things are hard in the country and we cannot afford to give expensive gifts.”

More Nigerians shopping this holiday are treading softly as that they cannot afford to fund their habits due to an accelerating inflation and shrinking wallets.

Since last year, Nigerians have been more cautious and practical about their spending, doing more bargain shopping and buying only essentials.

The headline inflation stood at 34.6 percent in November 2024, with food inflation standing at 39.9 percent, according to the most recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) CPI report.

Pay is failing to keep pace with costs in Africa’s most populous nation, with civil servants and low-income households squeezed.

This is amplifying a cost-of-living crisis, hurting citizens’ physical and mental health while exacerbating existing conditions, according to experts.

The World Bank, in its latest Nigeria Development Update report, said sluggish growth and rising inflation in Nigeria have pushed more people into poverty.

The global bank said at least 129 million people (64.5) live below the national poverty line.

The price of a 50kg of local parboiled rice has risen by 66 percent to an average of N100, 000 in December 2024 from N60,000 in December 2023, according to BusinessDay’s market survey.

In a country where the minimum wage is N70,000 (below $50 per month), the ballooning costs of food, clothes, and shelter are leaving many in the lurch.

Businesses have been hard hit as households cut down on purchases to survive the current economic hardship.

“Sales have been very slow unlike last year because there is no money at the moment,” Chioma Chukwu, a frozen food seller at Berger, said. “Most of my customers are complaining that there is no money.”

Inventory of unsold products in the manufacturing sector rose to N1.24 trillion in the first half (H1) of 2024 from N272 billion in the same period of last year, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN)’s half-yearly review report said.

MAN attributed the increase in inventory to weakened consumer purchasing power, brought about by diminishing real household income, resulting from the ongoing escalation of inflationary pressures and the aftermath of the subsidy removal.

“The high levels of unsold inventories reflect the challenges faced by consumers and the need for interventions to stimulate demand and improve the sector’s performance,” the MAN report said.

Also, business activity dropped to 48.9 points for a second straight month of economic contraction, according to the November PMI report by Stanbic IBTC Bank.

Petrol price has jumped by over 100 percent since December 2023 as naira fall heightens inflation. The naira exchanges at over 1500/$ at both official and parallel markets, making imports more expensive.

Abidemi Adebayo, floor supervisor of Mattoris Supermarket, said sales have been slow this festive season owing to consumers’ low purchasing power.

He said the number of shoppers this year isn’t as high as that of last year. “Last year, by this time, we were sold out on all our hampers. People had shopped for everything. However, this year, we still have hampers for sale, which wasn’t the case last year.”