Nigeria’s inflation has increased to 33.20% in March 2024 from 31.70 recorded in the previous month – February 2024.
This was according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday, April 15, 2024.
The bureau also said that food inflation increased YoY by 2.09 percentage points to 40.01 percent in March from 37.92 percent in February.
The NBS said, “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%.
“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 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.”
On food inflation, the bureau said: “The food inflation rate in March 2024 was 40.01 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.56 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (24.45 percent).
“The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items:
“Gari, millet, akpu uncooked fermented (which are under the bread and cereals class), yam tuber, water yam (under potatoes, yam, and other tubers class), dried fish sardine, and mudfish dried (under Fish class).
“Palm oil, vegetable oil (under Oil and Fat), beef feet, beef head, liver (under meat class), coconut, watermelon (under Fruit Class), Lipton tea, Bournvita, Milo (under coffee, tea and cocoa class).”
The report followed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision to increase the interest rate from 22.75% to 24.75%.
Interestingly, the March inflation rate was amidst efforts by the apex bank to bolster the naira against foreign currencies, yielding some positive outcomes.
Over recent weeks, the naira has appreciated against the dollar by over 40%, moving from about N1,900/$ to approximately N1,100/$1.
With the naira’s resurgence, Nigerians anticipate a significant reduction in the prices of food and basic commodities. However, the cost of living remains high, contrary to expectations.
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