Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, down from 15.43 per cent recorded in July, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has said.
The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, report for August 2026 released on Tuesday.
According to the report, the CPI rose to 146.3 points in August from 145.3 points in July, representing an increase of 1.0 point.
The headline inflation rate dropped by 0.04 percentage points compared to July. It was also significantly lower than the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.
“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 bureau stated.
The NBS said the average CPI for the 12 months ending August 2026 rose by 16.30 per cent, representing a decline of 12.02 percentage points from the 28.32 per cent recorded in August 2025.
Urban inflation stood at 15.88 per cent year-on-year in August, while month-on-month urban inflation fell sharply to 0.28 per cent from 1.90 per cent in July. The 12-month average urban inflation rate was 16.28 per cent.
For rural areas, year-on-year inflation was 14.23 per cent in August. However, month-on-month rural inflation rose to 1.79 per cent from 0.78 per cent in July. The 12-month average rural inflation rate stood at 16.02 per cent.
The report also showed moderation in food inflation, which declined to 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with 25.30 per cent in August 2025.
Month-on-month food inflation dropped significantly to 1.02 per cent from 5.56 per cent in July.
The NBS said the easing in food inflation reflected price changes in commodities such as palm oil, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, and frozen chicken.
It noted that while food prices continued to rise in August, the pace of increase was slower than in July.
