…As Food Prices Sustain Dropping Trend
Nigeria’s headline inflation slowed to 14.63% in September this year, down from 15.39 per cent in August 2026 and 20.98 per cent in the corresponding month of last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported.
The statistics agency, in its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Thursday, reported that the country’s CPI rose to 146.38 points in September, representing a marginal increase of 0.08 points from August CPI under the newly rebased CPI series, which adopts 2024 as the base year and 2023 as the weight reference period.
The Bureau clarified that on a month-on-month basis, the nation’s headline inflation slowed to 0.06 per cent in September, compared with 0.71 per cent recorded in August, indicating a moderation in the pace of price increases across the economy.
- Advertisement -
According to the agency, the decline in inflation was due to easing of food prices, with the food inflation ebbing to 19.59 per cent year-on-year in September, lower than 20.16 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Similarly, the CPI data showed that on a month-on-month basis, food inflation contracted by 1.55 per cent, compared with an increase of 1,02 percent in August.
The Bureau attributed the moderation in food prices to changes in the average prices of key staples, including local rice, maize flour, onions, palm oil, fresh tomatoes, Irish potatoes, plantain and eggs.
The CPI report indicated that despite the overall slowdown, food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation at 5.85 percentage points, followed by restaurants and accommodation services at 1.89 percentage points and transport at 1.56 percentage points.
The report also showed that core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year in September. On a monthly basis, core inflation accelerated to 1.11 per cent, up from -0.06 per cent in August.
Among the newly introduced inflation indicators, the energy index recorded the highest monthly increase at 5.38 per cent, while farm produce inflation declined by 2.86 per cent during the review period.
A further analysis of the CPI data for the month under review reflected that at the subnational level, Imo State recorded the highest year-on-year all-items inflation rate at 30.04 per cent, followed by Enugu State at 22.38 per cent and Niger State at 22.05 per cent. In contrast, Taraba State posted the lowest inflation rate at 1.78 per cent, followed by Bauchi State at 2.84 per cent and Adamawa State at 3.66 per cent.
On food inflation rate, Lagos State recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 34.40 per cent, ahead of Imo State at 33.79 per cent and Ondo State at 31.49 per cent. The lowest food inflation rates were recorded in Taraba State, Yobe State and Borno State.
