Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Drops to 15.3% in August

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has dropped to 15.39 percent in August 2026, down from the 15.43 percent in July.
NBS announced the increase in its consumer price index (CPI) report on Wednesday.
“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, 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.”
NBS said the food inflation rate in August 2026 was 19.57 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The bureau also said the food inflation rate is lower compared to the 25.30 percent recorded in the same month of the preceding year.
“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 statistics firm said the decline in the rate
can be “attributed 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, Yam Flour, among others”.
NBS further said in August 2026, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Adamawa (38.85 percent), Zamfara (37.96 percent), and Bayelsa (36.20 percent).
On the other hand, the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis were recorded in Borno (-4.04 percent), Jigawa (-0.23 percent) and Kebbi (3.47 percent).
However, on a month-on-month basis, the bureau said food inflation was highest in Katsina (9.48 percent), Rivers (8.86 percent) and Osun (8.32 percent), while Taraba (-12.42 percent), Borno (-12.15 percent), and Bauchi (-8.88 percent) recorded the slowest rise.