Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index rose to 15.92 per cent in March, latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show, The PUNCH reports.

This new rate is the highest the country has recorded since November 2021, when inflation rate dropped to 15.99 per cent.

The rise in the inflation rate in March shows that Nigeria is not left out in the global inflation surge currently being witnessed.

The United States’ labor department on Tuesday disclosed that the country’s inflation rate rose to 8.5 per cent in March, the highest since 1981.

The rise in global inflation rates has been associated with the rise in energy prices caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine

The NBS in its “CPI report for March 2022” revealed that Nigeria’s inflation fell by 2.25 per cent when compared to 18.7 percent in March 2021.

However, March’s inflation rate is 0.22 per cent higher than 15.70 per cent recorded in February.

The report said, “In March 2022, the consumer price index, which measures inflation increased to 15.92 percent on a year-on-year basis.

“This is 2.25 percent points lower compared to 18.17 percent, the rate recorded in March 2021. This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in March 2022 when compared to the same month in the previous year.

“Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the headline index. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased to 1.74 percent in March 2022, this is 0.11 percent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2022 (1.63 percent).”

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According to the NBS, the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending March 2022 over the average previous twelve months period is 16.54 percent, showing a decrease of 0.19 percent compared to 16.73 percent recorded in February.

The urban inflation rate increased to 16.44 percent year-on-year in March showing a decline of 2.32 percent from the rate recorded in March 2021, the report noted.

Similarly, rural inflation increased to 15.42 percent in March 2022 with a decrease of 2.18 percent points from 17.60 percent recorded in March 2021.

In terms of food inflation, the NBS report revealed that the composite food index rose to 17.20 per cent in March from 17.11 per cent recorded in February.

The rise in inflation rate was attributed to increases in the price of food items such as bread, cereal, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, among others.