Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, from 15.43 per cent recorded in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In a statement, the Statistician-General of the Federation (SGF), Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the month-on-month headline inflation rate stood at 0.71 per cent in August, representing a 0.86 percentage-point decline from the 1.57 per cent recorded in July.
Adeniran said the moderation indicated that the average prices of goods and services increased at a slower pace during the month.
He identified food and non-alcoholic beverages, with 6.16 per cent; restaurants and accommodation services, 1.99 per cent; and transport, 1.64 per cent, as the three major contributors to headline inflation.
The least contributors were recreation, sport and culture at 0.05 per cent; alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics at 0.06 per cent; and insurance and financial services at 0.07 per cent.
The SGF said food inflation stood at 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August 2026, down from 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation fell to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July, representing a 4.55 percentage-point decline.
He attributed the moderation mainly to changes in the average prices of commodities including palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon (egusi), fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken and turkey meat.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 13.29 per cent year-on-year in August 2026.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation declined by 0.21 percentage points to -0.06 per cent in August, compared with 0.15 per cent in July.
Under the newly introduced inflation sub-indices, monthly changes in August were recorded at 1.35 per cent for farm produce, -0.36 per cent for energy, 0.12 per cent for services, 0.45 per cent for goods and 0.91 per cent for imported food.
Year-on-year, farm produce recorded 21.52 per cent, energy 4.69 per cent, services 15.38 per cent, goods 14.74 per cent and imported food 12.82 per cent.
The urban inflation rate stood at 15.88 per cent year-on-year in August, while the month-on-month rate fell to 0.28 per cent from 1.90 per cent in July.
In the rural areas, inflation stood at 14.23 per cent year-on-year, while the month-on-month rate rose to 1.79 per cent from 0.78 per cent in July.
The NBS cautioned against direct interstate comparisons of inflation rates, noting that consumer price indices are weighted according to consumption expenditure patterns that vary across states and locations.
At the state level, Lagos recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate in August at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent.
Sokoto, at 2.11 per cent, recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate, followed by Kebbi at 3.72 per cent and Jigawa at 3.81 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Rivers recorded the highest increase at 6.92 per cent, followed by Osun at 5.61 per cent and Kano at 5.59 per cent.
Anambra, Bauchi and Borno recorded the lowest month-on-month changes, at -8.83 per cent, -7.13 per cent and -7.09 per cent respectively.
