The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate for the month of March was 12.26 percent.
The NBS said on its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, released on its website on Tuesday that the inflation rate in March was 0.06 percent points higher than the rate recorded in February, which was 12.20 percent.
It noted that the lock down in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States and the disruptions in normal economic activities in several states started in April and wouldn’t have had any impact because this report focused on March.
According to the report, the increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
The NBS added that on month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.84 percent in March and this was 0.05 percent higher than the rate recorded in February, which was 0.79 percent.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period, ending in March over the average CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.62 percent showing 0.08 percent point from 11.54 percent recorded in February.
“The urban inflation rate increased by 12.93 percent year on year in March as against 12.85 percent recorded in February, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.64 percent in March from 11.61 percent in February.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.88 percent in March and up by 0.06 point from 0.82 percent in February, while the rural index also rose by 0.80 percent in March, up by 0.04 points in February which was 0.76 percent,’’ the NBS stated.
According to the bureau, the highest increase recorded are on fish, vegetables, fruits, oil and fats, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam as well as other tubers.
MM/GIK/APA