Surge in Food Prices Drives Nigeria’s Inflation to 24.23% in March, Says NBS
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate climbed to 24.23 percent in March 2025, marking a significant uptick driven largely by rising food, beverage, and essential service costs, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The latest report released by the bureau indicates a 1.05 percent increase from the 23.18 percent recorded in February 2025, signaling the first notable inflationary rise since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was rebased earlier in the year.
“Looking at the movement, the March 2025 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.05% compared to the February 2025 rate,” the NBS stated. “On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate stood at 3.90%, representing a 1.85% jump from 2.04% recorded in February.”
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This acceleration implies that the general price level rose more rapidly in March than in the preceding month.
The major contributors to the inflationary pressure include food and non-alcoholic beverages (9.28%), restaurants and accommodation services (2.99%), transport (2.47%), housing, utilities and fuels (1.95%), education (1.44%), and health services (1.40%).
Food inflation remained a key driver, with year-on-year rates hitting 21.79 percent. Month-on-month, the food inflation rate rose to 2.18 percent in March from 1.67 percent in February.
The NBS attributed the increase in food prices to rising costs of essential staples and ingredients such as fresh ginger, yellow garri, broken Ofada rice, natural honey, crabs, potatoes, plantain flour, periwinkle, and fresh pepper, among others.
By PRNigeria
