Nigeria has recorded its first increase in a year as the headline inflation rose to 15.38%, up from 15.06% in February 2026.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the March 2026 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.32% compared to the February 2026 Headline inflation rate.
However, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.18%, which was 2.17% higher than the rate recorded in February 2026 (2.01%).
“This means that in March 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2026.
It added that the Food inflation rate in March 2026 was 14.31% on a year-on-year basis and stood at 25.22% in the same month of the preceding year (March 2025).
But on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.17%, down 0.52 percentage points from February 2026 (4.69%).
“This can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of the following products: yam, ginger (fresh), cassava tuber, groundnuts (shelled), irish potatoes, avenger (ogbono/apon) – dried ungrinded, tomatoes (fresh), cassava flour sold loose, etc.”
It added that the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending March 2026 over the previous twelve-month average was 18.21%, which was 17.81% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in March 2025 (36.02%).
“All items less farm produces and energy” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of vola-tile agricultural produces and energy, it said it stood at 16.21% in March 2026 on a year-on-year basis; a decline of 10.91% points when compared to the 27.12% recorded in March 2025. On a month-on-month basis.
“The Core Inflation rate was 4.03% in March 2026, up by 3.14% points compared to February 2026 (0.89%). The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 21.09% for the twelve months ending March 2026, which was 6.25% points lower than the 27.34% recorded in March 2025.”