Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 33.20 per cent in March 2024 from 31.70 per cent in February 2024, marking the eighth time the inflation rate is rising since the Presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration on May 29, 2023.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation report, said that the March 2024 headline inflation rate increased by 1.50 per cent, compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate.
According to the report by NBS: “Looking at the movement, the March 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.50% points when compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.16% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023, which was 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.”
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 strenghten 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 significant reduction in the prices of food and basic commodities but this hasn’t been the case with cost of living still high.
