Abuja, April 16, 2026 – Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.38% in March 2026 from 15.06% in February 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday.
On month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2026 was 2.17% higher than the rate in February 2026.
This means that the rate of increase in the average price level in March 2026 was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in February 2026.
The core inflation (all items excluding farm produce and energy) increased by 33bps to 16.21% year-on-year in March (February: 15.88per cent y/y).
On a month-on-month basis, the core index rose sharply by 4.03per cent (February: 0.89per cent m/m).
Data from the report showed that Food and non-alcoholic beverages, Restaurants and accommodation services, and Transport were the biggest drivers of inflation during the period. This was even as food inflation eased slightly on a year-on-year basis to 14.31 per cent.
The NBS attributed the rise in food inflation during the period to average prices of yam, ginger (fresh), cassava tuber, groundnuts (shelled), Irish potatoes, venger (ogbono/apon) – dried ungrinded, tomatoes (fresh), cassava flour sold loose, etc.
The Urban inflation rate was 14.64%. in March 2026, while the rural inflation climbing to 17.22 per cent, while several states including Bayelsa, Sokoto and Bauchi recorded the highest inflation rates nationwide.
On month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in March 2026 was 6.73%, up by 6.02% compared to February 2026 (0.71%).
The corresponding twelve-month average for the rural inflation rate in March 2026 was 19.74%.
