Nigeria’s inflation soars again in March

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday the country’s inflation rate increased to 33.2% in March.

The agency disclosed this in its consumer price index report released in Abuja.

It added that the latest inflation rate represents a 1.5% increase from the 32.7% recorded in February.

The report read: “In March 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.20% relative to the February 2024 headline inflation rate which was 31.70%. Looking at the movement, the March 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.50% points when compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate.

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On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.16% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023, which was 22.04%. This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of March 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., March 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2024 was 3.02%, which was 0.10% lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 (3.12%). This means that in the month of March 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2024.”