Rising Food Prices Push Headline Inflation to 24.23% in March — NBS
By Patience Ikpeme
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that headline inflation rose to 24.23% in March 2025, up from 23.18% recorded in February. This marks an increase of 1.05 percentage points within a month, driven largely by a surge in food prices.
According to the NBS March Inflation Report released on Tuesday, the month-on-month inflation rate stood at 3.90% in March, up by 1.85 percentage points from 2.04% recorded in February. The Bureau explained that this indicates a faster increase in average price levels in March compared to February.
Food inflation remained the main driver, rising to 21.79% year-on-year and 2.18% month-on-month. The month-on-month figure was 0.50 percentage points higher than the 1.67% recorded in February. The increase was attributed to the rising prices of items such as fresh ginger, yellow garri, broken Ofada rice, natural honey, crabs, potatoes, plantain flour, unshelled periwinkle, and fresh pepper.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products and energy, rose to 24.43% year-on-year in March. On a month-on-month basis, core inflation climbed to 3.73%, up from 2.52% recorded in February.
State-by-state analysis showed that headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kaduna (33.33%), Osun (32.08%), and Kebbi (30.74%). The lowest rates were recorded in Akwa Ibom (12.81%), Bayelsa (14.02%), and Sokoto (14.83%).
On a month-on-month basis, the highest increases were seen in Kaduna (18.85%), Osun (16.49%), and Oyo (14.44%). Meanwhile, Sokoto (-8.66%), Nasarawa (-4.38%), and Kwara (-3.69%) recorded declines in inflation.
Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Oyo (34.41%), Kaduna (31.14%), and Kebbi (30.85%), while Bayelsa (9.61%), Adamawa (12.41%), and Akwa Ibom (12.60%) recorded the slowest increases.
Month-on-month food inflation in March was also led by Oyo (19.74%), Kaduna (17.24%), and Kebbi (14.03%), while Sokoto (-14.10%), Nasarawa (-9.91%), and Edo (-5.78%) recorded declines.
