Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 24.23 per cent in March 2025, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), released on Tuesday.
This marks a marginal rise from February 2025, when the inflation rate stood at 23.18 per cent, reflecting mounting pressure on household incomes and the cost of living.
Food inflation rose to 21.79 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March 2025, due to the increase in the average prices of Ginger (fresh), Garri (Yellow), Broken Rice (Ofada) and Honey.
On a Year-on-Year basis, food inflation was highest in Oyo (34.41 per cent), Kaduna (31.14 per cent), Kebbi (30.85 per cent).
Conversely, Bayelsa (9.61 per cent), Adamawa (12.41 per cent), and Akwa Ibom (12.60 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.
On a Month-on-Month basis, food inflation was highest in Oyo (19.74 per cent), Kaduna (17.24 per cent), and Kebbi (14.03 per cent) while Sokoto, Nasarawa and Edo states recorded a decline in food inflation.
The report showed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2025 was 3.90 per cent, being 1.85 per cent higher than the rate recorded in February 2025 (2.04 per cent). This means that in March 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2025.
On a year-on-year basis, in March 2025, the Urban inflation rate was 26.12 per cent, while on a month-on-month basis, the Urban inflation rate was 3.96 per cent in March 2025, up by 1.56 percent compared to February 2025 (2.40 per cent).
The Rural inflation rate in March 2025 on the other hand, was 20.89 per cent on a year-on-year basis, while on a month-on-month basis, it was 3.73 per cent, up by 2.57 per cent compared to February 2025 (1.16 per cent).
The report further showed that all items less farm produce and energy, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 24.43 per cent in March 2025 on a year-on-year basis and on a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 3.73 per cent up by 1.21 per cent compared to February 2025 (2.52 per cent).
Meanwhile, the all items inflation rate was highest in Kaduna (33.33 per cent), Osun (32.08 per cent), and Kebbi (30.74 per cent), while Akwa Ibom (12.81 per cent), Bayelsa (14.02 per cent), Sokoto (14.83 per cent) recorded the lowest rise in headline inflation on Year-on-Year basis.
On a Month-on-Month basis, however, highest increases were recorded in Kaduna (18.85 per cent), Osun(16.49 per cent), Oyo (14.44 per cent), while Sokoto , Nasarawa and Kwara recorded the lowest rise in Month-on-Month inflation.
