Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined marginally to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, with a sharp slowdown in food price increases helping to ease overall inflationary pressure during the month.
The latest figure was contained in the Consumer Price Index report for August 2026 released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
According to the report, the August inflation rate was 0.04 percentage points lower than the 15.43 per cent recorded in July 2026 and significantly below the 23.14 per cent recorded in August 2025.
The NBS stated, “In August 2026, the headline inflation rate stood at 15.39 per cent, down from 15.43 per cent in July 2026 and stood at 23.14 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (August 2025).”
Despite the decline in the annual inflation rate, the overall price level continued to rise during the month.
The CPI, which tracks changes in the prices of goods and services consumed by households, increased to 146.3 points in August from 145.3 points in July.
On a month-on-month basis, however, the pace of price increases slowed substantially. Monthly inflation fell to 0.71 per cent in August from 1.57 per cent in July.
The statistics agency explained that the development indicated a slower rate of increase in the average prices of goods and services compared with the previous month.
The report said, “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.”
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest driver of the annual inflation rate, contributing 6.16 percentage points to the overall figure.
Restaurants and accommodation services followed with 1.99 percentage points, while transport contributed 1.64 percentage points. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for another 1.30 percentage points.
The food inflation rate stood at 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August, representing a notable decline from the 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.
The slowdown was even more pronounced on a monthly basis, as food inflation dropped to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July.
The NBS noted, “This shows that the average prices of food items are increasing at a decreasing rate in August 2026.”
The agency linked the moderation in food inflation to movements in the prices of several food commodities.
Among the items identified were palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon, fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken and turkey meat, among others.
The latest data also showed a moderation in core inflation, which excludes certain volatile agricultural produce and energy prices.
Core inflation fell to 13.29 per cent year-on-year in August from 22.93 per cent recorded in the corresponding month of 2025. On a monthly basis, it moved into negative territory at -0.06 per cent, compared with 0.15 per cent in July.
The moderation in inflation was not uniform across different parts of the country, with significant variations between urban and rural areas and among individual states.
Urban inflation was recorded at 15.88 per cent year-on-year, higher than the 14.23 per cent recorded in rural areas.
However, rural areas experienced a faster monthly increase in prices during August. Rural month-on-month inflation rose to 1.79 per cent from 0.78 per cent in July.
In contrast, urban monthly inflation fell sharply to 0.28 per cent in August from 1.90 per cent in July.
The state-level figures also showed wide disparities in inflation outcomes across the country.
Lagos posted the highest headline inflation rate at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara with 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent.
Sokoto recorded the lowest headline inflation rate among the states at 2.11 per cent.
Food inflation was highest in Adamawa, where it reached 38.85 per cent. Zamfara followed with 37.96 per cent, while Bayelsa recorded 36.20 per cent.
The NBS, however, warned against interpreting the state-level figures as straightforward measures of relative price levels, noting that differences in consumption patterns and the weights assigned to items in the Consumer Price Index can affect comparisons between states.
Overall, the August figures point to a broad moderation in the pace of inflation, particularly in food prices and monthly price movements, even though the cost of goods and services continued to increase during the period.
SOURCE: thepointng.com
