According to the Consumer Price Index report, recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate for the month of March 2020, rose to 18.17% from 17.33% recorded in February 2021 hitting its peak in four years.
This surge in inflation rate represents the rapidly decreasing purchasing power of Nigerians nationwide. The population struggles mostly with food inflation. The rise in the food index was caused primarily by increases in the prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam & other tubers, meat, fruits, vegetable, fish, and oils & fats. Although analysts forecast that there will be a respite in the rise of food inflation in Q2 2021 given the opening of borders, the AfCFTA agreement, COVID-19 vaccine optimism, and so on, the high level of insecurity in the country’s farm belt implies that farm output could decline significantly during the year, thereby putting further pressure on domestic food prices.
Similarly, the urban inflation rate increased to 18.76% (year-on-year) in March 2021 from 17.92 percent recorded in February. The rural inflation rate stands at 17.60% in March 2021 from the 16.77% reported last month.
