The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday, September 15, said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, as the pace of increase in food prices slowed sharply during the month.
The latest figure represents a 0.04 percentage-point decline from the 15.43 per cent recorded in July and a significant moderation from the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.
The statistics agency disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for August 2026.
The CPI, which measures changes in the prices of goods and services consumed by households, increased to 146.3 points in August from 145.3 points in July, indicating that prices continued to rise despite the slower pace of increase.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation fell considerably to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.
“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,” the NBS said.
Food inflation rate also declined significantly, falling to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July, representing a decrease of 4.55 percentage points.
“This shows that the average prices of food items are increasing at a decreasing rate in August 2026,” the bureau said.
The NBS attributed the decline mainly to changes in the average prices of several food items, 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, among others.
At the state level, Adamawa state recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate in August at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara state at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa state at 36.20 per cent.
The lowest year-on-year food inflation rates were recorded in Borno state at -4.04 per cent, Jigawa state at -0.23 per cent and Kebbi at 3.47 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Katsina state recorded the highest food inflation rate at 9.48 per cent, followed by Rivers state at 8.86 per cent and Osun state at 8.32 per cent.
The lowest month-on-month food inflation rates were recorded in Taraba state at -12.42 per cent, Borno state at -12.15 per cent and Bauchi state at -8.88 per cent.
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