There was a general hike in food prices in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated in its report on ‘Selected food prices watch’ for March’ on Thursday.
Selected food price watch data for March 2021 reflected that the average price of one dozen of agric eggs medium size increased year-on-year by 13.73 per cent and month-on-month by 1.19 per cent to N524.47 in March 2021 from N518.30 in February 2021.
It added that the average price of a piece of agric egg medium size (price of one) increased year-on-year by 21.39 per cent and month-on-month by 2.29 per cent to N48.43 in March 2021 from N47.35 in February 2021.
The average price of 1kg of tomato increased year-on-year by 4.75 per cent and decreased month-on-month by 0.64 per cent to N267.45 in March 2021 from N269.18 in February 2021.
The average price of 1kg of rice (imported high quality sold loose) increased year-on-year by 24.06 per cent and month-on-month by 1.27 per cent to N544.21 in March 2021 from N537.37 in February 2021.
Similarly, the average price of 1kg of yam tuber increased year-on-year by 18.77 per cent and month on month by 0.82 per cent to N244.82 in March 2021 from N242.82 in February 2021.
The NBS had earlier disclosed that the consumer price index, which measures inflation increased by 18.17 per cent (year-on-year) in March 2021.
This is 0.82 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33 per cent).
Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption by purpose divisions that yielded the headline index.
On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.56 per cent in March 2021.
This is 0.02 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in February 2021 (1.54 per cent).
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending March 2021, over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 14.55 per cent, representing a 0.50 per cent point increase over 14.05 per cent recorded in February 2021. – Punch.
