Inflation rises to 12.26% in March, says NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, increased by 12.26 per cent year-on-year in March.

The NBS made this known in its latest report on inflation released on Tuesday.

It explained that the report showed that inflation in March was 0.06 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in February, which was 12.20 per cent.

The bureau said the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States and various major disruptions in normal economic activities in several states started in April and wouldn’t have had any impact because this report focused on March.

It stated that the increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

The NBS added that on a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.84 per cent in March and this was 0.05 per cent higher than the rate recorded in February, which was 0.79 per cent.

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period, ending in March over the average CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.62 per cent showing 0.08 per cent point from 11.54 per cent recorded in February.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 12.93 per cent year on year in March as against 12.85 per cent recorded in February while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.64 per cent in March from 11.61 per cent in February.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.88 per cent in March and up by 0.06 point from 0.82 per cent in February while the rural index also rose by 0.80 per cent in March, up by 0.04 points in February which was 0.76 per cent,’’ the NBS stated.

According to the bureau, the highest increase recorded are on fish, vegetables, fruits, oil and fats, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam as well as other tubers.