Nigeria’s Inflation Rises To 33.20% In March, Says NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday said the March 2024 headline inflation rose to an all-time high of 33.20 per cent.

This shows that it rose marginally by 1.5 per cent on a month-on-month basis against the February 2024 inflation which rose by 1.8 per cent to a record 31.70 per cent.

Subsequently, on a year-on-year basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report recorded a surge of 11.60 per cent to the 22.04 per cent recorded in March 2023.

The statistics hub attributed the increase to the high cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages.

During the review period, the NBS said on a divisional level, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 17.20 per cent to inflation, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel contributed 5.56 per cent while clothing and footwear accounted for 2.54 per cent, among others.

Further breakdown of the report showed the food inflation rate in March 2024 was 40.01 per cent compared to 37.92 per cent recorded in February 2024.

It further surged by 15.56 per cent on a year-on-year basis, against the 24.45 per cent rate of March 2023.

The NBS attributed the rise in food inflation to the increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese and eggs.

The case was not different in the urban areas where the inflation rate rose to 35.18 per cent, which was 12.11 per cent points higher when compared to the 23.07 per cent recorded in March 2023.

The rural inflation rate in February 2024 was 31.45 per cent yearly. This was 10.36 per cent higher than the 21.09 per cent recorded in the preceding year.