The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.38 per cent in March 2026.
The NBS made this known via its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
The bureau stated that the March headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.32 per cent compared to the February 2026 headline inflation rate of 15.06 per cent.
It noted that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate for March 2026 stood at 15.38 per cent, when compared to the 15.06 per cent and 27.35 per cent recorded in February 2026 and March 2025, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.18 per cent, which was 2.17 per cent higher than the rate recorded in February 2026 at 2.01 per cent.
“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,” the NBS said.
The NBS said the three major contributors to the headline inflation year-on-year were food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.55 per cent, restaurants, and accommodation services at 3.26 per cent, and transport at 1.80 per cent.
The bureau said the least contributors were recreation, sports, and culture at 0.00 per cent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics at 0.02 per cent, and insurance and financial services at 0.02 per cent.
It stated that the CPI increased to 135.4 in March 2026, and reflected a 5.4-point increase from the 130.0 recorded in February.
The NBS said the food inflation rate in March 2026 was 14.31 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the rate recorded in March 2025 at 25.22 per cent.
It said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in March 2026 was 4.17 per cent, which decreased by 0.52 per cent compared to the 4.69 per cent recorded in February.
The NBS attributed the decrease in food inflation on a month-on-month basis to the rate of change in the average prices of yams, ginger(fresh), cassava tuber, and groundnuts (shelled).
Others are Irish potato, and ogbono/apon (dried ungrinded), tomatoes (fresh), and cassava flour sold loose, among others.
The bureau disclosed that on a year-on-year basis in March 2026, the urban inflation rate was 14.64 per cent.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 3.16 per cent, which increased by 0.61 per cent compared to February at 2.55 per cent,” it stated.
The NBS said in March 2026, rural inflation rate was 17.22 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 6.73 per cent, which increased by 6.02 per cent compared to February at 0.71 per cent,” the bureau said.
On states’ profile analysis, the NBS noted that’s the all-items index inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bayelsa at 27.37 per cent, followed by Sokoto at 26.03, and Bauchi at 23.67 per cent.
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It said the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Osun at 5.25 per cent, followed by Kano at 9.85 per cent, and Kaduna at 10.38 per cent.
The NBS revealed that the inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was highest in Zamfara at 10.77 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 9.37 per cent, and Sokoto at 9.05 per cent.
“Lagos at 1.54 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom at 1.80 per cent and Rivers at 1.89 per cent recorded a decline in month-on-month inflation,” the NBS added.
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