Listen to story here
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate moderated slightly to 15.91 per cent in June 2026, down from 15.93 per cent recorded in May, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The marginal decline marks the first slowdown in headline inflation after three consecutive months of increases, although food prices continued to climb, driven by higher costs of staple commodities across the country.
The NBS said the June inflation rate was significantly lower than the 25.29 per cent recorded in the corresponding month of 2025.
“In June 2026, the headline inflation rate was 15.91 per cent, down from 15.93 per cent in May 2026,” the bureau stated, adding that the June figure represented a 0.02 percentage point decline from the previous month.
The Consumer Price Index rose to 143.0 in June from 140.7 in May, while month-on-month headline inflation slowed to 1.66 per cent from 1.75 per cent, indicating that the pace of increase in the general price level eased during the month.
The report showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributors to headline inflation, followed by restaurants and accommodation services, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, education, and health.
Food inflation, however, maintained an upward trend, rising to 17.52 per cent on a year-on-year basis in June, while month-on-month food inflation accelerated to 3.75 per cent from 2.98 per cent recorded in May.
According to the bureau, the increase was driven by higher average prices of food items including fresh pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, beef, garri, yam flour, cassava flour, cowpea, Irish potatoes, bananas and yam tubers.
Core inflation, which excludes agricultural produce and energy, eased to 15.92 per cent year-on-year, while the average headline inflation rate for the 12 months ending June 2026 declined to 17.63 per cent from 29.82 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
State-by-state analysis showed that Niger recorded the highest annual headline inflation rate at 42.23 per cent, followed by Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory. Imo posted the lowest annual inflation rate during the review period.
The report also showed that Kogi recorded the highest food inflation rate among the states, while Katsina recorded the lowest, reflecting significant disparities in food price movements across the country.
