Nigeria’s food inflation rate rose sharply to 20.31 per cent in July 2026, representing a 2.79 percentage-point increase from 17.52 per cent recorded in June and the fifth consecutive monthly rise since March.
The latest figure marks the first time food inflation has crossed the 20 per cent threshold since February 2021.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report for July 2026 released on Monday.
According to the report, food inflation stood at 20.31 per cent year-on-year in July 2026, compared with 26.2 per cent recorded in July 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate rose to 5.56 per cent in July from 3.75 per cent in June, representing an increase of 1.82 percentage points.
The NBS attributed the rise to changes in the average prices of several food items, including crayfish, fresh pepper, onions, carrots, rice, water yam, tomatoes, garri, plantain, beef, eggs, guinea corn, ginger and plantain flour.
The bureau said Adamawa recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 51.36 per cent in July, followed by Katsina at 30.84 per cent and Zamfara at 30.65 per cent.
In contrast, Borno recorded a negative food inflation rate of -0.31 per cent, while Nasarawa and Kebbi recorded 6.88 per cent and 12.50 per cent, respectively, representing the slowest year-on-year increases during the period.
On a month-on-month basis, Adamawa also recorded the highest food inflation rate at 17.02 per cent, followed by Lagos at 13.48 per cent and Borno at 13.26 per cent.
Jigawa, Kebbi and Bauchi, however, recorded negative month-on-month food inflation rates of -3.68 per cent, -3.67 per cent and -1.85 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the country’s headline inflation rate declined for the second consecutive month, falling by 0.48 percentage points to 15.43 per cent in July from 15.91 per cent in June.
The NBS attributed the decline primarily to a slowdown in core inflation, which dropped to 14.97 per cent in July from 15.92 per cent in June.
Similarly, month-on-month headline inflation moderated to 1.57 per cent in July, compared with 1.66 per cent in June.
The NBS explained that the July figure indicates that the rate at which the average price level increased was lower than the rate recorded in June, signaling a moderation in the pace of overall price increases despite the sharp rise in food inflation.
