Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose for the third straight month to 22.04 per cent in March from 21.91 per cent in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.
The statistics office said the rate of inflation in March showed an increase of 0.13 per cent points when compared to February 2023 headline inflation rate.
According to the latest inflation report released by the statistics office, the food inflation rate quickened to 24.46 per cent in March from 24.35 per cent in the previous month.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in March 2023 was 2.07 per cent, this was 0.16 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2023 (1.90 per cent).
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending March 2023 over the previous twelve months’ average was 22.72 per cent, which was a 3.50 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in March 2022 (19.21 per cent),” it said.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Core inflation rate was 1.84 per cent in March 2023, up by 0.78 per cent from 1.06 per in February 2023.
“The average twelve months’ annual inflation rate was 17.41 per cent for the twelve months ending March 2023; this was 3.85 per cent points higher than the 13.56 per cent recorded in March 2022,” it said.
Inflation has remained high in Africa’s largest economy, prompting the apex bank to hike interest rates to their highest level in nearly two decades.
Elevated rates of inflation, slow economic growth and a high unemployment rate are on the radar as a new president prepares to assume power in May.