The three states of Ondo, Bayelsa, and Lagos had the highest rates of inflation in March 2023. NBS reports that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate for March 2023 increased to 22.04% from February 2023’s headline inflation rate of 21.91%. When compared to the headline inflation rate from February 2023, this indicated an increase of 0.13 percentage points.
At the subnational level, “Ondo (25.38%), Bayelsa (24.80%), and Lagos (24.66%) had the highest inflation rates on a year-over-year basis.” On the other hand, the states of Borno, Cross River/Sokoto, and Benue experienced some of the lowest headline inflation on a year-over-year basis.
On a month-on-month basis, March 2023 recorded the highest increases in Bayelsa State (2.58 per cent), Nasarawa State (2.54 per cent), Lagos State (2.41 per cent), while Anambra State (1.03 per cent), Ebonyi (1.14 per cent) and Zamfara (1.27 per cent) recorded the slowest rises on month-on-month inflation.
For food inflation on a year-on-year basis, Kwara State was highest with 28.84 per cent, Ondo State followed at 28.22 per cent and Lagos State was in the third spot with 27.92 per cent. States with the slowest rise in food inflation include Sokoto State, with 18.99 per cent; Zamfara State, with 20.75 per cent and Plateau State with 21.83 per cent.