Inflation Rate Rises to 12.26 in March

• Inflation Rate Rises to 12.26 in March

The cost of goods and services increased by 12.26 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report released Tuesday.

This was 0.06 percent higher than the 12.20 percent filed in the month of February 2020 and 0.13 percent more than the 12.13 percent recorded in January.

On a monthly basis, the headline index grew by 0.05 percent from 0.79 percent achieved in February to 0.84 percent in March.

Accordingly, the gauge of food price, the composite food index, rose by 14.98 percent during the month under review, 0.08 percent more than the 14.90 reported in February.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending March 2020, over the previous twelve-month average was 14.11 percent, 0.13 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2020 (13.98) percent,” the NBS stated.

It should be noted that the March data was before the ongoing lockdown that disrupted economic activity, therefore, this report does not reflect the impact of COVID-19 on the economy.

The NBS said: “The lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States and various major disruptions in normal economic activity in several States since then, started in April 2020 and accordingly would not have any major impact on March 2020 Inflation which this report focusses on.”