By Lucy Adautin
Although the Nigerian Naira has strengthened against the Dollar, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals that Nigeria’s inflation rate has surged to 33.20% .
In March 2024, it rose up by 1.50%, from 31.70% recorded in February.
Compared to the rate of 22.04% recorded in March 2023, the inflation rate on a year-on-year basis has surged by 11.16% points.
NBS said in March 2024, that the headline inflation rate increased to 33.20% relative to the February 2024 headline inflation rate which was 31.70%.
“Looking at the movement, the March 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.50% points when compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate.
“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%.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of March 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., March 2023),” the NBS stated.
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 the month of 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.
According to the NBS, food inflation rate in March 2024 was 40.01% on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.56% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (24.45%).
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Others are Dried Fish Sadine, Mudfish Dried (under Fish class), Palm Oil, Vegetable Oil (under Oil and Fat), Beef Feet, Beef Head, Liver (under Meat class), Coconut, Water Melon (under Fruit Class), Lipton Tea, Bournvita, Milo (under Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Class).
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in March 2024 was 3.62% which shows a 0.17% decrease compared to the rate recorded in February 2024 (3.79%).
The fall in food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a fall in the rate of increase in the average prices of Guinea corn flour, Plantain Flour etc (under Bread and Cereals class), Yam, Irish Potatoe, Coco Yam (under Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers class), Titus fish, Mudfish Dried (under Fish class), Lipton, Bournvita, Ovaltine (under Coffee, Tea and Cocoa class).
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending March 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 31.40%, which was 8.69% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in March 2023 (22.72%).
