Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased marginally to 15.91 per cent in June 2026, down from 15.93 per cent recorded in May, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The bureau, however, reported that food inflation rose to 17.52 per cent in June from 16.96 per cent in May, reflecting sustained increases in the prices of several staple food items.
According to the NBS, the slight decline in headline inflation was largely driven by moderation in core inflation, which fell to 15.92 per cent in June from 16.82 per cent in May.
Despite the overall easing in inflation, food prices continued to climb, with the bureau attributing the increase to higher average prices of commodities including crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, dried green peas, yam flour, water yam, beef, bananas, cassava flour, cowpeas, garri, Irish potatoes and yam tubers.
The report stated that the headline inflation rate stood at 15.91 per cent in June 2026, compared to 15.93 per cent in May, while the corresponding figure for June 2025 was 25.29 per cent.
“The June 2026 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.02 percentage points compared to May 2026,” the bureau said.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 1.66 per cent in June from 1.75 per cent in May, indicating that the pace of increase in the average price level eased slightly during the period.
Food inflation, however, remained on an upward trajectory. On a year-on-year basis, it rose to 17.52 per cent in June, compared with 25.41 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Month-on-month food inflation also accelerated to 3.75 per cent in June from 2.98 per cent in May, representing an increase of 0.77 percentage points.
Across the states, Kogi recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 53.02 per cent, followed by Niger at 43.83 per cent and Benue at 40.83 per cent.
Katsina, Rivers and Imo recorded the slowest annual increases in food inflation at 19.15 per cent, 23.81 per cent and 24.60 per cent, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, Katsina posted the highest food inflation rate at 16.82 per cent, followed by Kebbi at 9.79 per cent and Niger at 8.96 per cent.
By contrast, Borno recorded a month-on-month food inflation rate of -3.54 per cent, while Benue and Bayelsa posted -2.36 per cent and -1.34 per cent, respectively, indicating declines in food prices during the period.
