Nigeria’s inflation rate drops to 14.63%

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell to 14.63 per cent in September 2026 from 15.39 per cent in August, as average food prices declined during the month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The bureau’s latest Consumer Price Index report, released on Thursday, showed that annual inflation also eased from 20.98 per cent in September 2025. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 0.06 per cent from 0.71 per cent in August. This indicates that overall consumer prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace.

Food prices, however, fell by 1.55 per cent during September, reversing a 1.02 per cent increase in August. The NBS linked the moderation to movements in the prices of items including local short-grained rice, maize flour, guinea corn flour, fresh onions, palm oil, tomatoes, okra, Irish potatoes, plantain and eggs.

Annual food inflation stood at 19.59 per cent, compared with 20.16 per cent in September 2025, meaning food prices remained higher than a year earlier despite the monthly decline. Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year.

On a monthly basis, core inflation rose to 1.11 per cent from a decline of 0.06 per cent in August, indicating renewed price increases outside those categories. Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributors to headline inflation, accounting for 5.85 percentage points. Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 1.89 percentage points, while transport contributed 1.56 percentage points.

The report showed differing movements across the inflation sub-indices introduced following the bureau’s rebasing exercise. Energy prices increased by 5.38 per cent month-on-month, while services rose by 0.41 per cent, goods by 0.10 per cent and imported food by 0.04 per cent. Farm produce prices declined by 2.86 per cent.

Annual inflation stood at 18.85 per cent for farm produce, 10.85 per cent for energy, 14.51 per cent for services, 14.31 per cent for goods and 9.18 per cent for imported food. Urban inflation remained higher than rural inflation, at 15.64 per cent year-on-year compared with 12.46 per cent.

Monthly urban inflation increased to 0.53 per cent from 0.28 per cent in August. Rural prices fell by 0.89 per cent, reversing a 1.79 per cent increase the previous month. Among states, Imo recorded the highest annual headline inflation rate at 30.04 per cent, followed by Enugu at 22.38 per cent and Niger at 22.05 per cent.

Taraba recorded the lowest rate at 1.78 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 2.84 per cent and Adamawa at 3.66 per cent. Monthly headline inflation was highest in Imo at 8.64 per cent, followed by Kaduna at 4.46 per cent and Sokoto at 3.01 per cent. Prices declined by 6.10 per cent in Adamawa, 5.31 per cent in Bauchi and 4.49 per cent in Kano.

Lagos recorded the highest annual food inflation rate at 34.40 per cent, followed by Imo at 33.79 per cent and Ondo at 31.49 per cent. Annual food prices declined by 7.47 per cent in Taraba and 0.37 per cent in Yobe, while Borno recorded food inflation of 2.18 per cent.

On a monthly basis, food prices rose most sharply in Imo, at 5.15 per cent, followed by Ondo at 4.46 per cent and Oyo at 3.82 per cent. Adamawa, Kano and Bauchi recorded monthly food price declines of 13.84 per cent, 11.01 per cent and 10.21 per cent, respectively.

The NBS said the report used a 2024 base year and a 2023 expenditure weight reference period following its rebasing exercise. It cautioned that differences in household spending patterns affect the weights assigned to food and non-food items across states, making direct comparisons potentially misleading.