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Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 12.8 percent year-on-year in March, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. For the first time in over three years, Nigeria’s inflation rate reached double digits in February when the consumer price index rose to 11.4 percent year-on-year.

The NBS said the rise in inflation reflected the increase in prices of goods and services across the nation in March. Food inflation rose 1.4 percent month-on-month to 12.7 percent in March from 11.3 percent recorded in February, reaching a high last recorded in May 2012.

“Transportation costs, the planting season, and foreign exchange movements created significant upward pressures on the food index in March,” the NBS said.

During its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in March, the Central Bank of Nigeria raised benchmark interest rates from 11 percent to 12 percent to ease inflationary pressures.

Nigeria’s inflation has been rising steadily since November 2014 because of the country’s deteriorating macroeconomic conditions caused by fallen oil prices.  The inflation rate crossed the CBN’s upper limit of 9 percent in June 2015.

The NBS said core inflation, which excludes volatile items such food, rose 1.1 percent month-on-moth to 12.1 percent in March from 11 percent recorded in the previous month.

“The knock-on effect of foreign exchange movements which has in turn affected the prices of imported food and non food items, the importation of Premium Motor Spirit as well as the adjustment in the electricity tariffs nationwide, have resulted in a surge of rates recorded by the core sub-index,” the NBS said.