Business and Economy
Inflation cools, but food prices remain high — NBS.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026 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 (CPI) report for August 2026, released on Tuesday.
The bureau said the CPI, which measures changes in the prices of goods and services consumed by households, rose to 146.3 points in August from 145.3 points in July, representing a 1.0-point increase.
According to the report, the August headline inflation rate declined by 0.04 percentage points from the 15.43 per cent recorded in July and was significantly lower than the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed sharply to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.
The NBS explained that the figure indicated that the pace of increase in the average price level was slower in August than in July.
The bureau said the average Consumer Price Index for the 12 months ending August 2026 increased by 16.30 per cent, compared with the average recorded in the preceding 12-month period.
This represented a decline of 12.02 percentage points from the 28.32 per cent recorded in August 2025.
The report showed that urban inflation stood at 15.88 per cent year-on-year in August 2026, while month-on-month urban inflation declined sharply to 0.28 per cent from 1.90 per cent in July.
The average urban inflation rate for the 12 months ending August stood at 16.28 per cent, lower than the 29.73 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
For rural areas, the NBS reported a year-on-year inflation rate of 14.23 per cent in August.
However, rural month-on-month inflation increased to 1.79 per cent in August from 0.78 per cent in July.
The average rural inflation rate for the 12 months ending August was 16.02 per cent, compared with 26.47 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
The NBS also reported a moderation in food inflation, which fell to 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August from 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation declined significantly to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July.
The bureau attributed the moderation to changes in the prices of several food commodities, 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 NBS, however, noted that the moderation in food inflation did not mean that food prices generally declined.
Rather, the report indicated that food prices continued to increase in August, but at a slower pace than recorded in July.
The latest figures point to a broad moderation in inflationary pressure, particularly on a month-on-month basis, although consumers continue to face elevated food prices.