The latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 24.23 per cent in March 2025, representing an increase of 1.05 per cent, compared to the 23.18 per cent recorded in February 2025.
The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for March 2025, which was released on Wednesday in Abuja.
Furthermore, the report 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 was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2025.
The report 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 and other fuel; education services; health; and clothing and footwear.
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.
Food Inflation Rate
The report said 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, 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 report said 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, 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.
According to the NBS, 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 report said “all items less farm produce and energy’’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 24.43 per cent in March 2025 on a year-on-year basis while on a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 3.73 per cent in March, which increased by 1.21 per cent, compared to the 2.52 per cent recorded in February 2025.
The NBS said on a month-on-month basis Farm Produce rate stood at 2.64 per cent in March 2025, compared to the 1.77 per cent recorded in February 2025.
The report said Energy rate stood at 9.21 per cent in March 2025 on a month-on-month basis, compared to the – 0.99 per cent recorded in February 2025.
It said Services stood at3.344 per cent in March2025 on a month-on-month basis, compared to 3.38 per cent in February 2025 while Goods had a rate of 3.89per cent on a month-on-month basis, compared to the 1.29 per cent recorded in February 2025.
Urban-Rural Inflation Rate
The report said on a year-on-year basis in March2025, the urban inflation rate was 26.12 per cent, compared to 20.89 per cent in rural areas.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 3.96 per cent in March 2025, which increased by 1.56 per cent, compared to February 2025 at 2.40 per cent.
“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 3.73per cent in March, which increased by 2.57 per cent compared to February at 1.16 per cent,” the report further read.
The disparity highlights the greater vulnerability of urban consumers to price shocks, especially in housing, transport, and service-related costs.
NAN
