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Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 24.2%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 24.23 per cent in March 2025.

The NBS announced the increase in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March on Tuesday, April 15.

The new inflation rate showed an increase of 1.05 per cent compared to the 23.18 per cent recorded in February 2025.

The NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.90 per cent, which was 1.85 per cent higher than the rate recorded in February 2025 at 2.04 per cent.

“This means that in March 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2025,” the bureau noted.

The NBS said the increase in the headline index for March 2025 on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.

It said these increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas, education services, health, and clothing and footwear.

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Others are information and communication, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services, furnishings, household equipment and maintenance, insurance and financial services, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, recreation sports, and culture.

The NBS disclosed that the food inflation rate in March 2025 was 21.79 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in March was 2.18 per cent, which increased by 0.50 per cent compared to the 1.67 per cent recorded in February 2025.

The NBS said the increase in the food inflation figure was attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of ginger (fresh), garri (yellow), broken rice (Ofada), and honey (natural production).

Others are crabs, potatoes, plantain flour, periwinkle (unshelled), and Pepper (Fresh), among others,

The NBS added that on a year-on-year basis in March 2025, the urban inflation rate was 26.12.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 3.96 in March 2025, which increased by 1.56 per cent compared to February at 2.40 per cent,” it said.

The bureau stated that on a year-on-year basis in March, the rural inflation rate was 20.89 per cent.

“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 3.73 per cent in March, which increased by 2.57 per cent compared to February at 1.16 per cent,” the NBS disclosed.

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