BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Nigeria’s annual headline inflation rate rose for the third consecutive month in 2026, reaching 15.93 per cent in May. This marks an increase from the 15.69 per cent recorded in April and 15.38 per cent recorded in March.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living, increased to 140.7 in May, up 2.4 points from April’s 138.3.
Despite the annual increase, month-on-month headline inflation slowed to 1.75 per cent in May, representing a 0.39 percentage point decline from the 2.13 per cent recorded in April. The current annual figure also remains significantly lower than the 26.06 per cent recorded in May 2025, reflecting a long-term easing of inflationary pressures over the past year.
An analysis of the inflation basket revealed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest driver of headline inflation, contributing 6.38 percentage points to the annual rate. Restaurants and accommodation services followed with 2.06 percentage points, transport accounted for 1.70 percentage points, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels contributed 1.34 percentage points.
Food inflation was recorded at 16.96 per cent year-on-year in May, driven by the rising costs of staple items such as onions, maize grains, water yam, cassava flour, tomatoes, and yam tubers. On a monthly basis, food inflation eased to 2.98 per cent from 3.63 per cent in April.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 16.82 per cent year-on-year. However, monthly core inflation accelerated sharply to 1.94 per cent from 1.03 per cent in April, indicating that underlying price pressures within the broader economy strengthened during the month.
Urban inflation reached 16.07 per cent year-on-year in May, while rural inflation was recorded at 15.60 per cent. Services inflation remained elevated at 17.92 per cent annually, while energy inflation stood lower at 5.73 per cent year-on-year.
At the state level, significant variations were recorded across the federation. Yobe state logged the highest annual headline inflation rate at 24.94 per cent, followed closely by Anambra at 23.29 per cent and Sokoto at 22.60 per cent. Conversely, Niger state recorded the lowest annual rate at 3.07 per cent, with Plateau and Edo registering 7.10 per cent and 7.73 per cent, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, Benue state experienced the highest price acceleration at 8.23 per cent, while Niger state recorded a price decline of 4.55 per cent. In the food sector, Adamawa recorded the highest annual food inflation at 29.62 per cent, while Borno state registered a food deflation of 6.53 per cent.
