Nigeria’s Inflation rate Rises to 15.38% In March 2026
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate went up to 15.38% in March 2026, reflecting an increase from the 15.06% recorded in February, latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said .
Statistician General of the NBS Prince Adeyemi Adeniran in a statement on Wednesday said the development is sequel to the completion of the recent rebasing exercise, which is centred on a new CPI base year of 2024 and a weight reference period of 2023.
The report said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 135.40 in March 2026, and reflects a 5.4-point increase from the preceding month.
According to the report, 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%).
Contributions to Headline Inflation:
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%.
Food Inflation Rate:
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.
Core Inflation Rate:
Core Inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 16.21% in March 2026 on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 4.03% in March 2026, up by 3.14% compared to February 2026 (0.89%).
The newly introduced indices:
The inflation rate of the sub-indices for March 2026 shows that the monthly change recorded were Farm Produce (4.6%), Energy (6.6%), Services (2.6%), Goods (5.5%) and Imported Food (1.1%). Meanwhile, the inflation rate on a year-on-year basis recorded were as follows; Farm Produce (14.0%), Energy (9.9%), Services (16.8%), Goods (14.3%) and Imported Food (7.2%).
Urban and Rural Inflation Rates:
On a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in March 2026 was 14.64%. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 3.16% in March 2026, up by 0.61% compared to February 2026 (2.55%).
The rural inflation rate in March 2026 was 17.22% on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in March 2026 was 6.73%, up by 6.02% compared to February 2026 (0.71%).
State-Level Analyses:
In analysing price movements under this section, it should be noted that CPI is weighted by consumption expenditure patterns that differ across States and locations. Accordingly, the weight assigned to a particular Food or Non-Food item may differ from State to State making interstate comparisons of consumption basket inadvisable and potentially misleading.
All Items Inflation
In March 2026, the All-Items inflation rate on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Bayelsa (27.37%), Sokoto (26.03%), and Bauchi (23.67%), while Osun (5.25%), Kano (9.85%) and Kaduna (10.38%) recorded the lowest rise in Headline inflation on a Year-on-Year basis. On a Month-on-Month basis, however, March 2026 recorded the highest increases in Zamfara (10.77%), Bauchi (9.37%) and Sokoto (9.05%), while Lagos (1.54%), Akwa Ibom (1.80%), and Rivers (1.89%) recorded a decline in the Month-on-Month inflation.
Food Inflation
State-level analyses of the food index in March 2026, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Bayelsa (33.35%), Sokoto (28.02%), and Adamawa (21.67%), while Kano (4.29%), Oyo (4.86%), and Katsina (7.48%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis. On a Month-on-Month basis, however, March 2026 Food inflation was highest in Sokoto (11.78%), Niger (8.59%) and Gombe (8.10%), while Katsina (0.09%), Ogun (0.77%), and Adamawa (1.30%) recorded a decline in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis.
