Nigeria’s Inflation Jumps to 22.04% in March 2023

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 22.04 per cent in March 2023 compared to the February 2023 headline inflation rate of 21.91 per cent.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Saturday and seen by Business Post, the March 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.13 per cent points when compared to February 2023 headline inflation rate.

The CPI measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services over a period.

“In March 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 22.04% compared to February 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 21.91%,” the NBS stated.

“Looking at the trend, the March 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.13 per cent points when compared to February 2023 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.13 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2022, which was 15.92 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in March 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., March 2022),” the stats agency added.

It noted that food inflation was 24.45 per cent in March 2023 from 24.35 per cent in February 2023, while urban inflation was 23.07 per cent and rural inflation was 21.09 per cent.

The bureau disclosed that the increase in the food index was driven by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.

The NBS acknowledged the increase in these prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.42 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (3.69 per cent); clothing and footwear (1.69 per cent); and transport (1.43 per cent).

Others are furnishings, household equipment & maintenance (1.11 per cent); education (0.87 per cent); health (0.66 per cent); miscellaneous goods & services (0.37 per cent); restaurant & hotels (0.27 per cent); alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola (0.24 per cent); recreation & culture (0.15 per cent) and communication (0.15 per cent).

The NBS said the increase in prices of the above contributed to the rise of the country’s inflationary figure.