Nigeria’s inflation rate drops to 23.18%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 23.18 per cent in February 2025.

The NBS announced this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for February 2025, which was released on Monday, March 17.

The bureau stated that the headline inflation showed a decrease of 1.30 per cent compared to the 24.48 per cent recorded in January 2025.

It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2025 was 8.52 per cent lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 at 31.70 per cent.

“This shows that the Headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis decreased in February 2025 compared to February 2024, though with a different base year of November 2009,” the NBS stated.

The NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2025 was 2.04 per cent.

The bureau said the increase in the headline index for February 2025 on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.

It stated that these increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel, education services, health, and clothing and footwear.

Others are information and communication, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services, furnishings, household equipment and maintenance, insurance and financial services, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, recreation and culture, and communication.

The NBS said the percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months ending February 2025 over the average CPI for the previous 12 months was 30.09 per cent.

“This indicates a 3.91 per cent increase compared to 26.18 per cent recorded in February 2024,” the bureau added.

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops to 24.48%

The NBS said the food inflation rate in February 2025 decreased to 23.51 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 14.41 per cent lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2024 at 37.92 per cent.

The NBS said the decline in the food inflation figure was due to the change in the base year, which is 2024.

However, the NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in February 2025 was 1.67 per cent.

It said the decline in food inflation on a month-on-month basis can be attributed to the decline in the average prices of food items like Yam tuber, Potatoes, Soya beans, Flour of maize/cornmeal, Cassava, and Bambara beans (Dried), among others.

On states’ profile analysis, the bureau stated that in February, all items’ inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Edo at 33.59 per cent, followed by Enugu at 30.72 per cent, and Sokoto at 30.19 per cent.

It, however, said the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Katsina at 15.45 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom at 15.53 per cent, and Plateau at 15.74 per cent.

The NBS said in February 2025, all items inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was highest in Sokoto at 11.98 per cent, followed by Kogi at 11.38 per cent, and Edo at 8.87 per cent.

“Kaduna – 8.83 per cent, followed by Ondo at 4.78 per cent, and Plateau at 3.37 per cent recorded the slowest rise in month-on-month inflation,” the NBS disclosed.

The Star