The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued its rise with the inflation rate for the month of March this year put at 18.17 percent.
The NBS said in its monthly report
of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation on Thursday in Abuja that the inflation rate for March was 0.82 percent higher than 17.33 percent recorded in February, making it the highest figure reported in the country in four years since April 2017.
It added that increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index.
It noted that on a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased to 1.56 percent in March, indicating 0.02 percent points higher than the rate recorded in February, which was 1.54 percent.
“The composite food index rose by 22.95 percent in March 2021 compared to 21.79 percent in February 2021. On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.90 percent in March 2021, up by 0.01 percent points from 1.89 percent recorded in February 2021.
“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, Meat, Vegetable, Fish, Oils and fats and fruits.
“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending March 2021 over the previous twelve-month average was 17.93 percent, 0.68 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2021 (17.25) percent,” it said.
It explained that the ”All items less farm produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 12.67 percent in March 2021, up by 0.29 percent when compared with 12.38 percent recorded in February 2021.
The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 10.01 percent for the 12 -month period ending March 2021; this is 0.76 percent points lower than 10.77 percent recorded in February 2021.
On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 1.06 percent in March 2021. This was down by 0.15 percent when compared with 1.21 percent recorded in February 2021.
“The urban inflation rate increased by 18.76 percent (year-on-year) in March 2021 from 17.92 percent recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.60 percent in March 2021 from 16.77 percent in February 2021,” it added.
GIK/APA