The inflation rate for the month of March 2024 was released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics
Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 33.2% for the month of March 2024 according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The inflation rate stood at 31.7% in the month of February 2024 which represents 1.5% points increase from that.
Despite this increase, what should delight us is that the increase in the inflation rate in March was slower compared to the 1.80% increase recorded in February 2024.
The 33.2% Inflation in March was driven by an increase in food and beverages coupled with energy and housing costs.
FOOD INFLATION
In March 2024, the food inflation rate reached 40.01% year-on-year, marking an increase of 15.56 percentage points from 24.45% in March 2023.
This increase of food inflation can be attributed to rising prices for items such as garri, millet as well as yam tuber, water yam, and others.
But on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in March 2024 stood at 3.62%, showing a decline of 0.17% from February 2024, when it was 3.79%.
URBAN INFLATION
Urban inflation figures that track the price changes of goods and services specifically for people living in cities and towns, reached 35.18% year-on-year which is a rise of 12.11% from the 23.07% recorded in March 2023.
Noticeably the figures in February 2024 and March 2024 was 3.17% but there was a marginal decrease of 0.0001% point.
RURAL INFLATION
The rural inflation rate for March 2024 was 31.45% on a year-on-year basis which was up 10.37% from 21.09% in March 2023.
Comparing months, the rural inflation rate decreased by 0.20% points to 2.87% in March 2024 from 3.07% in February 2024.
CORE INFLATION
Finally for the Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products and energy, the figure was at 25.90% in March 2024 on a year-on-year basis, an increase of 6.26% from 19.63% in March 2023.
The month-on-month core inflation rate in March 2024 was 2.54%, up from 2.17% in February 2024.
What Should We Expect In April?
Although Naira’s value is rising steadily as demand for dollars is reducing and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s strategies seem to yield steady fruits, Disruptions in global supply chains are still causing problems which has led to shortages and price hikes for certain goods in Nigeria, Inflation trend should still go upward in April, but this should happen at a much slower pace compared to the previous month.
