Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose 1.50% to 33.20% in March, the country’s statistics bureau reported on Monday. The figure is the highest in 28 years.
The National Bureau of Statistics attributed the increase to soaring food and energy costs.
Consumer inflation in Africa’s most populous country has been on an upward trend for 15 straight months, eating into people’s incomes and draining savings.
It was at 31.70% in February.
The agency reported that food inflation stood at 40.01% in March 2024. It was at 37.92% in February.
The removal of a fuel subsidy by new President Bola Tinubu last June has seen prices skyrocket in Nigeria, leaving millions of people struggling to meet basic needs.
Nigeria has also devalued its currency – the Naira twice in under a year in a bid to ease chronic shortages of forex, making the dollar appreciate remarkably against the Naira.
This year alone, Nigeria’s central bank has twice raised interest rates in a bid to calm down inflation. The bank said it expected prices to begin dropping in May.
