Nigeria’s inflation rises to 15.38% in March 2026, says NBS

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.38 per cent in March 2026, up from 15.06 per cent recorded in February, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

The bureau said the increase reflects renewed pressure on consumer prices, with month-on-month inflation jumping sharply to 4.18 per cent in March from 2.01 per cent in February, indicating a faster pace of price increases across the economy.

According to the report, key drivers of inflation included food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, and transport, even as food inflation eased slightly year-on-year to 14.31 per cent from 25.22 per cent recorded in March 2025.

The NBS noted that both urban and rural areas recorded rising price pressures, with rural inflation climbing to 17.22 per cent, while states such as Bayelsa, Sokoto and Bauchi posted some of the highest inflation rates in the country.

“Following the completion of the recent rebasing exercise, this report is centred on a new CPI base year of 2024 and a weight reference period of 2023. Hence, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 135.40 in March 2026, and reflects a 5.4-point increase from the preceding month,” the report stated.

On a year-on-year basis, the NBS said headline inflation stood at 15.38 per cent in March 2026 compared to 15.06 per cent in February 2026 and 27.35 per cent in March 2025.

It added that month-on-month inflation rose by 2.17 percentage points, reflecting faster price increases in the period under review.

“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%,” the report said.

Food inflation in March 2026 stood at 14.31 per cent year-on-year, lower than the 25.22 per cent recorded in March 2025. Month-on-month food inflation also eased slightly to 4.17 per cent from 4.69 per cent in February.

The NBS attributed changes in food prices to items such as yam, ginger, cassava, groundnuts, potatoes, tomatoes and cassava flour among others.