Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 15.38 per cent in March 2026, rising from 15.06 per cent recorded in February, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.
The report showed that prices rose faster in March, with the month-on-month inflation rate jumping to 4.18 per cent, compared to 2.01 per cent in February. This indicates a sharper rise in the cost of goods and services across the country within the month.
According to the NBS data, the major contributors to the increase were food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, and transport. These sectors continued to place pressure on household spending.
However, the report also noted that food inflation recorded a slight drop on a year-on-year basis, easing to 14.31 per cent, even though prices in other areas continued to rise.
The report also highlighted rising cost pressures in both urban and rural areas, with rural inflation climbing to 17.22 per cent, while several states including Bayelsa, Sokoto and Bauchi recorded the highest inflation rates nationwide.
The NBS said: “Following the completion of the recent rebasing exercise, this report is centred on a new CPI base year of 2024 and a weight reference period of 2023. Hence, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 135.40 in March 2026, and reflects a 5.4-point increase from the preceding month.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate for March 2026 stood at 15.38%, when compared to 15.06% and 27.35% recorded in February 2026 and March 2025; respectively. The month-on-month headline inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.18%, which was 2.17% higher than the rate recorded in February 2026 (2.01%).
“At the divisional level, the three major contributors to the headline inflation were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages: 5.55%, Restaurants & Accommodation Services: 3.26%, and Transport: 1.80%; while the least contributors were Recreation, Sport, and Culture: 0.00%, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics: 0.02%, and Insurance and Financial Services: 0.02%.
“The Food inflation rate in March 2026 was 14.31% on a year-on-year basis, lower than 25.22% recorded in March 2025. Also, on a month-on-month basis, the Food Inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.17%, down by 0.52% points from February 2026 (4.69%). This can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of Water Yam, Ginger (Fresh), Cassava Tuber, Groundnuts (Shelled), Irish Potatoes, Avenger (Ogbono/Apon) – Dried Ungrinded, Tomatoes (fresh), Cassava Flour sold loose, among others
