Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell slightly to 15.39 percent in August 2026, driven largely by a sharp slowdown in the pace of food price increases, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Key Highlights
- Nigeria’s inflation rate falls to 15.39%, indicating a slowdown in overall price pressures.
- The moderation was supported by slower growth in food prices.
- The decline could ease pressure on households and consumers dealing with rising living costs.
- Food inflation remains a major factor influencing Nigeria’s overall inflation trend.
- The latest figure will be closely watched by policymakers, businesses and consumers as they assess the direction of the economy.
The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index report for August released on Monday.
The latest figure represents a marginal decline from the 15.43 percent recorded in July and a significant drop from the 23.14 percent reported in August 2025.
According to the bureau, the headline inflation rate stood at 15.39 percent in August, compared with 15.43 percent in July and 23.14 percent in the corresponding month of 2025.
Despite the year-on-year moderation, the Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in the prices of goods and services purchased by households, increased from 145.3 points in July to 146.3 points in August.
On a month-on-month basis, however, inflation slowed substantially to 0.71 percent in August from 1.57 percent in July, indicating that prices continued to rise but at a much slower pace.
The NBS explained that the lower monthly rate reflected a slower increase in the average price level compared with the previous month.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest contributor to annual inflation, accounting for 6.16 percentage points.
Restaurants and accommodation services followed with 1.99 percentage points, while transport contributed 1.64 percentage points. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for 1.30 percentage points.
Food inflation also recorded a notable decline, falling to 19.57 percent year-on-year in August from 25.30 percent in August 2025.
On a monthly basis, food inflation dropped sharply to 1.02 percent in August from 5.56 percent in July.
The NBS attributed the moderation to changes in the average prices of several food items, including palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon, fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken and turkey.
The bureau said the figures indicated that food prices were still increasing in August but at a slower rate than in the previous month.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, also moderated to 13.29 percent year-on-year in August, compared with 22.93 percent in the same month of 2025.
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On a month-on-month basis, core inflation stood at -0.06 percent in August, down from 0.15 percent in July. Inflation trends, however, varied significantly between urban and rural areas.
Urban inflation stood at 15.88 percent year-on-year, while rural inflation was lower at 14.23 percent.
On a monthly basis, rural inflation accelerated to 1.79 percent in August from 0.78 per cent in July. Urban inflation, meanwhile, slowed sharply to 0.28 percent from 1.90 percent.
At the state level, Lagos recorded the highest headline inflation rate at 23.68 percent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 percent and Enugu at 22.06 percent. Sokoto recorded the lowest headline inflation rate at 2.11 per cent.
For food inflation, Adamawa State posted the highest rate at 38.85 percent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 percent and Bayelsa at 36.20 percent.
The NBS cautioned, however, that differences in consumption patterns and the weights assigned to various items in the Consumer Price Index mean that direct comparisons of inflation rates between states may not always provide an accurate picture of price pressures.
