Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent in May 2026 from 15.69 per cent in April this year, representing the third consecutive monthly increase in the annual inflation rate.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) gave these figures in its latest ‘Consumer Price Index (Inflation) for May 2026’ report published on Monday reflected that the CPI increased to 140.7 in May from 138.3 in April, representing a 2.4-point increase in the general price level, as food prices continued to pressurize household budgets.
The NBS reported: “In May 2026, the Headline inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was 1.75 per cent, which was 0.39 per cent lower than the rate recorded in April 2026 (2.13 per cent). 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.”
“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent, up from 15.69 per cent in April 2026 and down from 26.06 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (May 2025). Looking at the movement, the May 2026 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24 per cent compared to the April 2026 Headline inflation rate”, the statistics agency added.
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The latest CPI was lower than the 26.06 per cent recorded in May 2025 even as the May inflation rate was 0.24 percentage points higher than the 15.69 per cent recorded in April.
An analysis of the headline inflation revealed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.38 percentage points while Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 2.06 percentage points, transport accounted for 1.70 percentage points, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 1.34 percentage points.
Also, Education services contributed 0.99 percentage points to headline inflation, followed by health at 0.97 percentage points, clothing and footwear at 0.80 percentage points, Information and communication, as well as personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, each contributed 0.52 percentage points.
The Bureau further reported that average inflation for the 12 months ending May 2026 stood at 18.36 per cent, compared with 30.57 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025; and that food prices remained one of the strongest drivers of inflation during the month.
Specifically, the CPI report revealed that food inflation stood at 16.96 per cent year-on-year in May, compared with 24.55 per cent in the corresponding month of 2025, and on a month-on-month basis, food inflation eased to 2.98 per cent from 3.63 per cent recorded in the preceding month.
The statistics agency attributed the surge in food prices majorly to the rising cost of staple items, including onions, maize grains, melon, water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tubers, yam tubers, sweet potatoes, ginger, plantain and cowpea.
On core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, the Bureau reported that it stood at 16.82 per cent year-on-year in May, compared with 24.92 per cent in May 2025, and that on a month-on-month basis, however, core inflation rose to 1.94 per cent from 1.03 per cent in April.
The CPI data showed that in the month under review, Urban inflation was recorded at 16.07 per cent year-on-year, while monthly urban inflation rose to 1.99 per cent from 1.86 per cent in April. The 12-month average urban inflation rate stood at 18.27 per cent, significantly lower than the 32.55 per cent recorded a year earlier.
However, the NBS reported that Rural inflation stood at 15.60 per cent year-on-year and that on a month-on-month basis it slowed markedly to 1.17 per cent from 2.80 per cent in April, while the 12-month average rural inflation rate eased to 18.19 per cent from 28.36 per cent recorded in May 2025.
A further analysis of the CPI report showed that services inflation stood at 17.92 per cent year-on-year and 2.84 per cent month-on-month.
Also, it revealed that imported food inflation stood at 14.60 per cent annually and 2.28 per cent monthly, goods inflation was recorded at 6.62 per cent year-on-year and 0.73 per cent month-on-month while energy inflation stood at 5.73 per cent year-on-year and 0.72 per cent month-on-month.
When analyzed on states’ profile basis, , Yobe recorded the highest headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis at 24.94 per cent, followed by Anambra at 23.29 per cent and Sokoto at 22.60 per cent while Niger recorded the lowest annual inflation rate at 3.07 per cent, followed by Plateau at 7.10 per cent and Edo at 7.73 per cent.
However, on a month-on-month basis, Benue recorded the highest increase in headline inflation at 8.23 per cent, followed by Bayelsa at 7.62 per cent and Borno at 7.29 per cent, and Niger recorded a decline of 4.55 per cent, while Zamfara and Taraba recorded declines of 3.36 per cent and 2.67 per cent, respectively.
