Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, from 15.43 per cent in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The statistics agency disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Tuesday, saying the latest figure represents a 0.04 percentage-point decline from the previous month.
The NBS also reported a sharper slowdown in the month-on-month inflation rate, which fell to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.
The August figure was 0.86 percentage points lower than the rate recorded 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 bureau said.
Food inflation falls to 19.57%
Food inflation also declined, with the year-on-year rate falling to 19.57 per cent in August 2026.
The figure was significantly lower than the 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation dropped to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July, representing a decline of 4.55 percentage points.
“This shows that the average prices of food items are increasing at a decreasing rate in August 2026,” the NBS said.
The bureau attributed the decline 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 recorded the highest year-on-year food inflation rate in August at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa at 36.20 per cent.
The lowest year-on-year food inflation rates were recorded in Borno at -4.04 per cent, Jigawa at -0.23 per cent and Kebbi at 3.47 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Katsina recorded the highest food inflation rate at 9.48 per cent, followed by Rivers at 8.86 per cent and Osun at 8.32 per cent.
Taraba recorded the lowest month-on-month food inflation rate at -12.42 per cent, followed by Borno at -12.15 per cent and Bauchi at -8.88 per cent.
