Nigeria’s headline inflation rate climbed to 15.38% in the month of March, up from 15.06% in February 2026.
This is according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
Similarly, the country’s consumer price index, CPI rose to 135.4 in March 2026, representing a 5.4-point increase from 130.0 recorded in February.
This indicates a 0.32 percentage point increase in the headline inflation rate compared to the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation stood at 4.18% in March, which is 2.17 percentage points higher than the 2.01% recorded in February.
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This means the pace at which average prices increased in March was faster than the rate recorded in February 2026.
Food inflation, however, showed a mixed trend.
On a year-on-year basis, the food inflation rate stood at 14.31% in March 2026, significantly lower than the 25.22% recorded in the corresponding period of March 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation eased slightly to 4.17% in March, down by 0.52 percentage points from 4.69% in February 2026.
The moderation in monthly food inflation is attributed to changes in the average prices of key staples such as yam, fresh ginger, cassava tubers, shelled groundnuts, Irish potatoes, dried ogbono, fresh tomatoes, and loose cassava flour.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
