Nigeria’s inflation rate soars to 33.20% in March
Nigeria’s inflation rate saw a significant increase to 33.20% in March 2024, up from the February 2024 rate of 31.70%. The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) unveiled this data on Monday.
According to the NBS, the March 2024 inflation rate showed a rise of 1.50% points compared to February 2024. On a year-on-year basis, the current inflation rate is 11.16% points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023, which stood at 22.04%.
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2024 was 3.02%, which was 0.10% lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 (3.12%). This means that in the month of March 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2024.”
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The inflation report by the NBS followed the hike of Nigeria’s interest rate from 22.75% to 24.75% by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Interestingly, the March inflation rate was released at a time when measures by the apex bank to strengthen the naira against foreign exchange have seen some positive results.
The naira has appreciated against the dollar in recent weeks, gaining over 40%, from about N1,900/$ to about N1,100/$1 now.
As the naira rebounds, Nigerians expect a significant reduction in the prices of food and basic commodities but this hasn’t been the case with cost of living still high.
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