Inflation Rises to 22.04%

James Emejo in Abuja

The Consumer Price Index which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and commodities sustained its upward trajectory to 22.04 per cent in March compared to 21.91 per cent in the preceding month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.

The NBS attributed the 0.13 percentage points increase in the headline index to the rise in the prices of food and commodities.

Year-on-year, inflation rate was 6.13 per cent higher compared to 15.92 per cent in March 2022.

The food inflation rate rose to 24.45 per cent year-on-year which was 7.25 per cent higher than the 17.20 per cent recorded in March 2022.

The food inflation index was attributed to increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.

On a month-on-month basis, the food index increased to 2.07 per cent, which was 0.16per cent higher compared to 1.90 per cent in February.

 The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending March 2023 over the previous 12 months’ average was 22.72 per cent, which was 3.50 per cent increase from 19.21 per cent average annual rate of change recorded in March 2022.

Details later…