Nigeria: Inflation climbs for seventh month in a row in March
Consumer prices rose 0.84% on a month-on-month basis in March, up from February’s 0.79% increase. The pick-up was mainly driven by faster growth of food prices.
Meanwhile, inflation climbed for the seventh consecutive month to 12.3% in March (February: 12.2%), marking the highest reading since April 2018. Thus, it rose further above the Central Bank’s target range of 6.0%–9.0%, where it has been for nearly five years. As for annual average inflation, it ticked up to 11.6% from 11.5% in February.
Moreover, core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural produce, rose 0.80% month-on-month in March, above February’s 0.73% increase. Core inflation edged up to 9.7% from 9.4% in the previous month.