Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 15.93%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent in May 2026, marking the third consecutive increase in the year.

The NBS, in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, said the headline inflation rate, on a year-on-year basis, rose to 15.93 per cent, up from 15.69 per cent recorded in April 2026 and down from 26.06 per cent in May 2025.

The bureau stated: “Looking at the movement, the May 2026 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24% compared to the April 2026 Headline inflation rate.

“In May 2026, the Headline inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was 1.75%, which was 0.39% lower than the rate recorded in April 2026 (2.13%).

“This means that in May 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2026.”

The NBS disclosed that food inflation rate in May was 16.96 per cent on a year-on-year basis, up from 16.68 per cent recorded in April 2026.

The NBS said the inflation rate is lower compared to the 24.55 per cent recorded in the same month of the preceding year.

The bureau revealed that the food inflation rate in May on a month-on-month basis was 2.98 per cent, down by 0.65 percent points from 3.63 per cent recorded in April 2026.

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The NBS attributed this to the rate of change in the average prices of products including onions (fresh), maize (corn) grains, melon (egusi), water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, pepper (fresh), tomatoes (fresh), wheat grain, cassava tuber, yam tuber, sweet potatoes, ginger (fresh), plantain, and cow pea, among other.

The bureau said food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Adamawa State (29.62 per cent), Kwara State (28.47 per cent), and Rivers State (28.40 per cent), while Borno State (-6.53 per cent), Taraba State (1.13 per cent) and Bayelsa State (5.99 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.

On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said food inflation was highest in Bauchi State (7.73 per cent), Ogun State (6.86 per cent), and Jigawa State (6.69 per cent).

It further disclosed that Niger State (3.54 per cent), Katsina State (-3.48 per cent), and Gombe State (-2.22 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.