Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.69 per cent in April 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The figure represents an increase from the 15.38 per cent recorded in March 2026.
“In April 2026, the headline inflation rate rose to 15.69%, up from 15.38% in March 2026 and stood at 26.82% in the corresponding period of April 2025,” the NBS stated in the report released on Friday.
The agency noted that the April inflation figure showed a 0.31 percentage-point increase compared to the March 2026 headline inflation rate.
However, on a month-on-month basis, inflation slowed significantly to 2.13 per cent in April from 4.18 per cent recorded in March.
According to the NBS, this indicates that although prices continued to rise, the pace of increase in the average price level was slower in April than in the previous month.
The report also showed that food inflation stood at 16.06 per cent year-on-year in April 2026, compared to 24.68 per cent recorded in April 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation declined to 3.63 per cent in April from 4.17 per cent in March, reflecting a 0.54 percentage-point drop.
The NBS attributed the rise in food prices to increases in the average prices of items such as millet, yam flour, fresh ginger, beef, garri, yam tubers, fresh pepper, crayfish, cassava, beans, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, wheat grain, soybeans, guinea corn, plantain and carrots.
The agency further stated that the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending April 2026 was 17.55 per cent, significantly lower than the 34.60 per cent recorded in April 2025.
State-by-state analysis showed that food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Enugu at 32.67 per cent, followed by Kwara at 30.77 per cent and Adamawa at 30.14 per cent.
In contrast, Borno recorded the slowest food inflation rate at 1.67 per cent, while Jigawa and Taraba posted 6.17 per cent and 7.19 per cent respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, Niger recorded the highest food inflation rate at 8.53 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 6.78 per cent and Kogi at 6.72 per cent.
Kebbi recorded the slowest rise at 0.23 per cent, while Katsina and Bayelsa posted 0.47 per cent and 1.29 per cent respectively.
