As predicted by economists, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 24.23% in March 2025, according to the official government data source, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The rise in the country’s inflation rate, from 23.18% back in February 2025 to 24.23% in March 2025, reflected a major increase in the rising commodity and energy costs in the last few weeks.
According to the March 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report which measures the inflation rate released by the government agency on Tuesday, the country’s food inflation rate was 21.79% year-on-year in March 2025.
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The food inflation rate, however, showed a decrease compared to the food inflation rate of 23.51% recorded in February 2025.
Economists had predicted that the country’s inflation rate which decreased minimally in February would rise when the Dangote Refinery and the state-run NNPCL got entangled in a petrol price war that culminated in the temporary termination of a naira-for crude agreement between the two oil companies and the subsequent increase in the pump price of petrol.
Some observers had also said the minimal reduction in the prices of food commodities experienced earlier in February was not sustainable, attributing the temporary decline in the prices of food to the importation intervention of the Federal Government.
Food and commodity inflation have skyrocketed as Nigerians battle what can pass for the worst cost of living crisis since the country’s independence over six decades ago, a development that economic wizards have attributed to President Bola Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the forex rates.
