ABUJA — The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.38 percent in March 2026.
The figure was disclosed in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for March 2026, released in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to the report, the March headline inflation rate represents an increase of 0.32 percentage points compared to the 15.06 percent recorded in February 2026. On a year-on-year basis, the rate stood at 15.38 percent, compared to 15.06 percent in February 2026 and 27.35 percent in March 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March was 4.18 percent, which is 2.17 percentage points higher than the 2.01 percent recorded in February. This indicates that the pace at which average prices increased in March was faster than in the previous month.
The report identified the three major contributors to year-on-year headline inflation as food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.55 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 3.26 percent, and transport at 1.80 percent. The least contributors were recreation, sports and culture at 0.00 percent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics at 0.02 percent, and insurance and financial services at 0.02 percent.
The CPI rose to 135.4 in March 2026, reflecting a 5.4-point increase from the 130.0 recorded in February.
Food inflation stood at 14.31 percent year-on-year in March 2026, compared to 25.22 percent recorded in March 2025. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was 4.17 percent, representing a decrease of 0.52 percentage points from the 4.69 percent recorded in February.
The NBS attributed the moderation in month-on-month food inflation to changes in the average prices of items such as yam, fresh ginger, cassava tuber, shelled groundnuts, Irish potatoes, ogbono (dried, unground), fresh tomatoes, and loose cassava flour, among others.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy—referred to as “all items less farm produce and energy”—stood at 16.21 percent year-on-year in March. This marks a decline of 10.91 percentage points compared to 25.12 percent recorded in March 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, however, core inflation rose to 4.03 percent, up by 3.14 percentage points from 0.89 percent in February.
Further breakdown of sub-indices on a month-on-month basis showed energy inflation at 6.6 percent, farm produce at 4.6 percent, services at 2.6 percent, goods at 5.5 percent, and imported food at 1.1 percent.
In terms of location, urban inflation stood at 14.64 percent year-on-year in March, while on a month-on-month basis it rose to 3.16 percent, up by 0.61 percentage points from 2.55 percent in February. Rural inflation was higher at 17.22 percent year-on-year, while month-on-month rural inflation surged to 6.73 percent, increasing by 6.02 percentage points from 0.71 percent recorded in February.
State-by-state analysis showed that on a year-on-year basis, inflation was highest in Bayelsa at 27.37 percent, followed by Sokoto at 26.03 percent and Bauchi at 23.67 percent.
The slowest rise in headline inflation was recorded in Osun at 5.25 percent, followed by Kano at 9.85 percent and Kaduna at 10.38 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, Zamfara recorded the highest inflation rate at 10.77 percent, followed by Bauchi at 9.37 percent and Sokoto at 9.05 percent.
In contrast, Lagos recorded 1.54 percent, followed by Akwa Ibom at 1.80 percent and Rivers at 1.89 percent, indicating a slower rise in prices.
For food inflation, Bayelsa recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 33.35 percent, followed by Sokoto at 28.02 percent and Adamawa at 21.67 percent.
The slowest increases were recorded in Kano at 4.29 percent, Oyo at 4.86 percent and Katsina at 7.48 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Sokoto at 11.78 percent, followed by Niger at 8.59 percent and Gombe at 8.10 percent.
Meanwhile, Katsina at 0.09 percent, Ogun at 0.77 percent and Adamawa at 1.30 percent recorded the slowest increases in food prices.
