Nigeria’s inflation falls to 15.39% in August — NBS

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026 from 15.43 per cent recorded in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The latest figure also represents a sharp decline from the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.

The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index report released on Tuesday by the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the bureau, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran.

The report, which followed the recent rebasing of the CPI, uses 2024 as the new base year and 2023 as the weight reference period.

The bureau said the CPI rose to 146.3 points in August, representing a 1.0-point increase from the preceding month.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.

The NBS said the development indicated that average prices continued to rise but at a slower pace during the month.

Food inflation also moderated, dropping to 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August from 25.30 per cent in August 2025.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation declined to 1.02 per cent from 5.56 per cent in July, representing a 4.55 percentage-point decrease.

The bureau attributed the moderation partly to changes in the average prices of commodities including palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, egusi, fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken and turkey meat.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 13.29 per cent year-on-year in August.

Month-on-month core inflation stood at -0.06 per cent, compared with 0.15 per cent in July.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation at 6.16 per cent, followed by restaurants and accommodation services at 1.99 per cent and transport at 1.64 per cent.

At the state level, Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent.

Sokoto recorded the lowest year-on-year headline inflation at 2.11 per cent, followed by Kebbi at 3.72 per cent and Jigawa at 3.81 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, Rivers recorded the highest increase at 6.92 per cent, followed by Osun at 5.61 per cent and Kano at 5.59 per cent.

Anambra recorded the largest month-on-month decline at -8.83 per cent, followed by Bauchi at -7.13 per cent and Borno at -7.09 per cent.

For food inflation, Adamawa recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa at 36.20 per cent.

Borno recorded a negative year-on-year food inflation rate of -4.04 per cent, while Jigawa and Kebbi recorded -0.23 per cent and 3.47 per cent respectively.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Katsina at 9.48 per cent, followed by Rivers at 8.86 per cent and Osun at 8.32 per cent.

Taraba recorded the lowest month-on-month food inflation at -12.42 per cent, followed by Borno at -12.15 per cent and Bauchi at -8.88 per cent.

The NBS cautioned against direct comparisons of inflation rates across states, noting that the CPI is weighted according to consumption expenditure patterns that vary from one state and location to another.

The bureau said the weights assigned to food and non-food items therefore differ across states, making direct interstate comparisons of consumption baskets potentially misleading.