The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Saturday that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 22.04% in March this year, from the 21.91% recorded in February, representing a 0.13% points rise month-on-month.
In its just published’ ‘Consumer Price Index (CPI)’ report, the Bureau indicated that on a year-on-year basis, the March 2023 headline inflation rate was 6.13% points higher than the 15.92% rate recorded in March 2022.
According to the statistics agency, the contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline inflation for the month under review are food & non-alcoholic beverages, which recorded 11.42% ; housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel, 3.69%; clothing & footwear,1.69%; transport, 1.43%; and furnishings, household equipment & maintenance, with 1.11% contribution.
Others comprised education with 0.87% contribution to the headline inflation; health, 0.66%; miscellaneous goods & services, 0.37%; restaurant & hotels, 0.27%; alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola, 0.24%; recreation & culture, 0.15%; and communication, 0.15%.
A further analysis of the CPI report showed that Core inflation was 1.84% in March this year, up by 0.78% from 1.06% in the preceding month with the highest increases recorded in prices of Gas, Passenger transport by Air, Liquid fuel, Fuels, and Lubricants for personal transport equipment, Vehicles spare parts, Maintenance, and repair of personal transport equipment, Medical services, Passenger transport by road, etc.
On Food inflation, the NBS reported that the volatile food inflation rose slightly to 24.45% for the month under review, higher than the 24.35% reported in the previous month, attributing the rise in food inflation on- year on year basis to increases in prices of Oil and fat, Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Fish, Fruits, Meat, Vegetables, and Spirits.
A further decomposition of the CPI report on urban inflation rate indicated that on a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in the month under review rose to 23.07%, representing a 6.63%
points higher when compared to the 16.44% recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
The Bureau clarified: “On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.00% in March 2023, this was 0.15% points higher compared to February 2023 (1.85%). The corresponding twelve months average for the urban inflation rate was 21.00% in March 2023. This was 3.90% points higher compared to the 17.10% reported in March 2022.”
It also reported that in March 2023, the rural inflation rate rose to 21.09% on a year-on-year basis; indicating a 5.67% points higher than the 15.42% recorded in March last year.
The statistics agency also disclosed that on a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in March this year was 1.72%, up by 0.14% points compared to the 1.58% recorded in February.
In addition, it clarified that the corresponding twelve months average for the rural inflation rate in March 2023 was 19.79%, reflecting a 3.79% points higher when compared to the 16.00% recorded in the corresponding month of last year.
