Nigeria’s Inflation Reaches 18.17% in March, Rising for the 19th Month
By Sahabi Abdul
Nigeria’s annual inflation jumped to 18.17 percent in March, the highest in more than three years as inflationary pressures remained unrelenting.
Food inflation maintained its monthly surge, reaching 22.95 percent in March from 21.79 percent invthe previous month.
Month-on-month increases were 1.56 percent for headline inflation and 1.90 percent for food inflation.
The food index has been the biggest driver of aggregatw price increases in the past year.
Food supply in Nigeria has been constrained by insecurity in the major food producing of areas of central and northern Nigeria, as violence between herders and farmers intensify over grazing land.
Low oil demand and prices since the coronavirus pandemic hit Nigeria at its most vulnerable, oil being its main export accounting for more than 90 percent of foreign income. This has in turn increased pressure on the exchange rate of the naira in the face of inadequate foreign-currency supply to fund imports.
Though the central bank set a target of keeping inflation between 6-9 percent, it has missed this mark now for more than five years.