The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday, announced that Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 12.6 per cent in March, 2020 from 12.26 per cent recorded in February, the highest in 23 months.
This, NBS said, is 0.06 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2020(12.20) per cent.
The Bureau noted that the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states and various major disruptions in normal economic activities in several states started in April 2020 and accordingly would not have had any major impact on March 2020 inflation.
According to the Bureau, the corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 12.15 per cent in March 2020 (this is higher than 12.03 per cent reported in February 2020), while the corresponding rural inflation rate in March 2020 was 11.14 per cent compared to 11.09 per cent recorded in February 2020.
“The percentage change in the average composite Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the twelve months period ending March 2020, over the average CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.62 per cent, showing 0.08 per cent point from 11.54 per cent recorded in February 2020.
“Increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
