Nigeria’s inflation rate rose above 10 percent in February for the first time since December 2012 as food costs soared.

Inflation accelerated from 9.6 percent in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report published on Tuesday.

Food prices gained 11.4 percent in February from a year ago, up from 10.6 percent in the previous month.

The central bank’s pegging of the currency in the past year has failed to stem inflation, which has been above the 6 percent to 9 percent target band since May.

Policy makers lowered the benchmark interest rate by 2 percentage points to 11 percent in November to help support an economy hit by plunging oil prices.

The bank will make its next rate decision on March 22.

Growth in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, slowed to 2.8 percent last year, the weakest level since 1999 and down from 6.2 percent in 2014.

Capital controls introduced by the central bank last year to prop up the naira have been blamed by analysts for worsening the slowdown by deterring foreign investment and making it difficult for businesses to buy imported goods.

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