JUST IN: Nigeria’s inflation rate declines to 15.39%

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, down from 15.43 per cent recorded in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index report released on Wednesday.

The latest figure represents a 0.04 percentage-point decrease in the headline inflation rate compared with the previous month.

“Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.04% compared to the July 2026 Headline inflation rate,” the bureau said.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation stood at 0.71 per cent in August, representing a 0.86 percentage-point decline from the 1.57 per cent recorded in July.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in August 2026 was 0.71%, which was 0.86% lower than the rate recorded in July 2026 (1.57%).

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

The statistics agency said food inflation stood at 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August 2026.

The figure was lower than the 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.

“However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in August 2026 was 1.02%, down by 4.55% points from July 2026 (5.56%),” the report reads.

“This shows that the average prices of food items are increasing at a decreasing rate in August 2026.”

The NBS attributed the decline mainly to changes in the average prices of palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon (egusi), fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken, turkey meat and other food items.

On a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Adamawa at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa at 36.20 per cent.

The lowest year-on-year food inflation rates were recorded in Borno at -4.04 per cent, Jigawa at -0.23 per cent and Kebbi at 3.47 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, Katsina recorded the highest food inflation rate at 9.48 per cent, followed by Rivers at 8.86 per cent and Osun at 8.32 per cent.

Taraba recorded the lowest month-on-month food inflation rate at -12.42 per cent, followed by Borno at -12.15 per cent and Bauchi at -8.88 per cent.