Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, as the pace of increase in food and other consumer prices moderated, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Despite the decline in the annual inflation rate, the Consumer Price Index (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.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation slowed significantly to 0.71 per cent in August, down from 1.57 per cent in July, indicating that consumer prices continued to rise but at a much slower rate.

The NBS explained that the August figure meant that the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate recorded in July.

Food inflation drops to 19.57%Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest contributor to Nigeria’s annual inflation, accounting for 6.16 percentage points.

This was followed by restaurants and accommodation services with 1.99 percentage points, transport with 1.64 percentage points, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 1.30 percentage points.

Food inflation stood at 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August, a sharp decline from 25.30 per cent recorded in August 2025.On a month-on-month basis, food inflation fell considerably to 1.02 per cent in August from 5.56 per cent in July.

The NBS attributed the moderation to changes in the average prices of several food items, including 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.

Core inflation falls to 13.29%Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, also moderated to 13.29 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with 22.93 per cent in August 2025.

On a monthly basis, core inflation fell into negative territory at -0.06 per cent, compared with 0.15 per cent in July.

The latest figures indicate a broad moderation in price pressures, although inflation remained uneven across different parts of the country.

Lagos records highest headline inflationAt the state level, Lagos recorded the highest headline inflation rate at 23.68 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 22.56 per cent and Enugu at 22.06 per cent.

Sokoto recorded the lowest headline inflation rate at 2.11 per cent.For food inflation, Adamawa recorded the highest rate at 38.85 per cent, followed by Zamfara at 37.96 per cent and Bayelsa at 36.20 per cent.

The NBS cautioned that direct comparisons between states could be misleading because consumption patterns and CPI weights vary across the country.Rural-urban inflation gap widensUrban inflation stood at 15.88 per cent year-on-year, while rural inflation was lower at 14.23 per cent.

However, rural prices increased faster during the month, with month-on-month inflation rising to 1.79 per cent from 0.78 per cent in July.In contrast, urban monthly inflation slowed sharply to 0.28 per cent in August from 1.90 per cent in July.

The latest NBS figures suggest that Nigeria’s inflationary pressures are easing, particularly in food prices, although the cost of living remains elevated and significant differences persist across states and between urban and rural areas.