Nigeria’s inflation eases to 15.91% in June — NBS

By Taiwo Scholarstica

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to 15.91 percent in June 2026 from the 15.93 percent recorded in May, marking the first monthly decline after three consecutive increases.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made this known on Wednesday in its latest Consumer Price Index report.

Despite this marginal overall decline, food prices continued to climb, driven primarily by the rising cost of staples such as fresh pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, beef, garri, and yam.

According to the bureau, the headline inflation rate of 15.91 percent in June 2026 represents a 0.02 percent drop from May 2026, and stands significantly lower than the 25.29 percent recorded in June 2025.

Additionally, the Consumer Price Index rose by 2.3 points, climbing to 143.0 in June from 140.7 in May. On a month-on-month basis, however, headline inflation slowed to 1.66 percent compared to the 1.75 percent recorded in May, indicating that the speed at which average prices are rising has begun to decelerate.

This minor dip halts a steady four-month climb in inflation, which rose from 15.06 percent in February to 15.38 percent in March, 15.69 percent in April, and peaked at 15.93 percent in May.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributors to headline inflation, accounting for 6.37 percentage points. Other major drivers included restaurants, accommodation services, transport, housing, utilities, education, and health.

On a year-on-year basis, food inflation stood at 17.52 percent in June. Conversely, month-on-month food inflation actually accelerated to 3.75 percent from the 2.98 percent recorded in May.

The bureau attributed this month-on-month acceleration to rising costs for items such as crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, dried green peas, loose yam flour, water yam, beef, bananas, cassava flour, cowpeas, garri, Irish potatoes, and yam tubers.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy, slowed to 15.92 percent year-on-year.

The average headline inflation rate for the 12 months ending June 2026 also declined to 17.63 percent, down significantly from the 29.82 percent recorded a year earlier.

A look at state-by-state data revealed that Niger State recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 42.23 percent, followed closely by Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory, while Imo State posted the lowest rate. For food-specific inflation, Kogi recorded the highest rate in the country, whereas Katsina reported the lowest.