The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), a leading private sector advocacy group, has described the nation’s easing inflation as a welcomed development with great potential for the nation’s sustainable economic growth with attendant positive socio-economic implications for households in the country.
In the month under review, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Monday that the headline inflation declined to 15.10% year-on-year, compared with 27.61% in January 2025 and 15.15% in December 2025 while on a month-on-month basis, inflation turned negative at −2.88%, indicating an actual easing in the general price level relative to December 2025.
The Centre, in a Policy Brief signed by its Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Muda Yusuf, on the January 2026 inflation published by, noted that inflation outcomes signalled a meaningful transition toward macroeconomic stabilisation, driven primarily by declining food prices and supported by easing core inflation.
It observed that the easing general price level in the economy represented a positive trend for household welfare, consumption recovery, and investment confidence.
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Reflecting on the implications of the easing inflation for household welfare and economic activity, the CPPE noted that the sharp moderation in food inflation held substantial welfare benefits because food accounts for the largest share of household expenditure in Nigeria as lower food prices are therefore expected to improve real purchasing power, particularly for low-income households, reduce poverty and food-security pressures, and support gradual recovery in consumer demand for non-food goods and services
It maintained that if sustained, these developments could stimulate retail trade, manufacturing utilisation, and service-sector activity, thereby supporting broader economic recovery.
The Centre, however, pointed out that the slowing inflation rate also presented downside risks for farm incomes and rural economic sustainability.
To address the risks, the group advocated the need for the Federal Government to prioritize remedial policy measures to consolidate disinflation while protecting agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, stressing that achieving this balance will be critical to transforming current price moderation into durable stability, inclusive growth, and improved investor confidence in Nigeria’s economy.
On the policy implications of the easing inflation for government, the OPS advocacy group maintained that in terms of Monetary Policy, the disinflation trend created room for cautious and gradual monetary easing. However, this must remain data-driven given that core inflation and twelve-month average inflation remain elevated.
Similarly, it added that on agricultural and food-price policy, the government should deploy targeted measures to protect farm incomes while sustaining food affordability, including productivity support, minimum guaranteed prices for selected crops, strategic reserves, and expanded agro-processing capacity to absorb surplus output.
The Centre further clarified that on logistics, security, and regional price stability, state-level disparities in inflation, where headline inflation is highest in Benue, Kogi, and the FCT, and lowest in Ebonyi, Katsina, and Imo, highlighted the importance of transport costs, security conditions, and supply-chain efficiency in price formation, adding that addressing these structural constraints is essential for durable nationwide price stability.
Also, it argued that to ensure social policy alignment, lower food inflation provided an opportunity to shift policy emphasis from emergency relief toward productivity, nutrition, and human-capital investment.
Expatiating on the implications of the disinflation trend for investors and business strategy, the CPPE stated on the consumer-demand outlook that easing inflation, particularly food inflation, signalled gradual recovery in real household demand, creating opportunities in consumer goods, retail, logistics, and services, while on corporate pricing and margins it reduces the ability of firms to rely on price increases for revenue growth, thereby increasing the importance of cost efficiency, productivity, and scale.
The OPS group further pointed out in agriculture and value-chain investment, lower primary food prices may compress margins in crop production but strengthen the investment case for storage, processing, cold chains, and export-oriented agribusiness, and that in terms of financial-market outlook, sustained disinflation could support gradual interest-rate moderation and improved equity valuations, favouring long-term productive investment over short-term inflation hedging.
