Nigeria’s headline inflation rate jumped by 105 basis points to 24.23% in March, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS, revealed.
Based on the rebased consumer price index ,CPI, data, inflation increased by 105 bps to 24.23% year on year from 23.18% in February.
Inflation defied market expectations of a decline, which had been anticipated following the recent rebasing of the CPI methodology and the relative stability of the local currency. Core inflation which excludes volatile food and energy prices continued its upward trend, climbing to 24.4% year-on-year in March from 23.0% in February.
In contrast, food inflation eased to 21.8% in March, down from 23.5% in the previous month. On a monthly basis, the price pressures were noticeable, with headline, food, and core inflation rising by 3.9%, 2.2%, and 3.7%, respectively. This is significantly higher than the 2.0%, 1.7%, and 2.5% recorded in February.
Meanwhile, Food inflation rate in Nigeria rose to 21.79% on a year-on-year basis in March 2025, this is as nation’s headline inflation rose to 24.23%, relative to the February 2025 headline inflation rate of 23.18%.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the increase can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Ginger ,fresh, Garri ,Yellow, Broken Rice ,Ofada, Honey.
Summit Post analysis of the report released Tuesday showed that food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Oyo ,34.41%, Kaduna ,31.14%, Kebbi ,30.85%, while Bayelsa ,9.61%, Adamawa,12.41%, and Akwa Ibom ,12.60% recorded the slowest rise.
On a Month-on-Month basis, food inflation was highest in Oyo ,19.74%, Kaduna,17.24%, and Kebbi, 14.03%, while Sokoto, Nasarawa and Edo states recorded decline in food inflation.
The report showed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.90%, being 1.85% higher than the rate recorded in February 2025 ,2.04%. 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.
On a year-on-year basis, in March 2025, the Urban inflation rate was 26.12%, while on a month-on-month basis, the Urban inflation rate was 3.96% in March 2025, up by 1.56% compared to February 2025.
The rural inflation rate in March 2025 was 20.89% on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month ba sis, the rural inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.73%, up by 2.57% compared to February 2025.
“All items less farm produces and energy, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produces and energy stood at 24.43% in March 2025 on a year-on-year basis. On a
month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 3.73% up by 1.21% compared to February 2025 ,2.52%.
The all items inflation rate was highest in Kaduna ,33.33%, Osun ,32.08%, and Kebbi ,30.74%, while Akwa Ibom ,12.81%, Bayelsa,14.02%, Sokoto ,14.83% recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation on Year-on-Year basis.
However, on a Month-on-Month basis, highest increases in Kaduna ,18.85%, Osun,16.49%, Oyo ,14.44%, while Sokoto , Nasarawa and Kwara recorded the lowest rise in Month-on-Month inflation.