Moses Uwagbale
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued to rise as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 18.17 per cent (year-on-year) in March.
This is 0.82 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in February (17.33 percent), which makes it the highest reported in four years since April 2017.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed the new figure in its CPI March 2021 report released on Thursday.
Increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index, the report said.
On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased to 1.56 per cent in March, indicating 0.02 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in the previous month which was 1.54 per cent.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending March 2021, over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period, was 14.55 per cent, representing a 0.50 per cent point higher than the 14.05 per cent recorded in February.
Similarly, the urban inflation rate increased to 18.76 per cent (year-on-year) in March 2021 from 17.92 percent recorded in February.
The rural inflation rate, on the other hand, now stood at 17.60 per cent in March 2021 from the 16.77 per cent reported last month.
