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.

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In its December Cooking Gas Price Watch, the NBS said the price dropped from ₦5,425.78 in November to ₦5,360.43, a 1.2 per cent decrease. Compared to December 2024, the price was about 25 per cent lower.

Kaduna recorded the highest average price for 5kg cooking gas, while Katsina had the lowest. By region, the South-East had the highest prices, while the South-South recorded the lowest.

The cost of refilling a 12.5kg gas cylinder also fell slightly in December to ₦13,438.90, down from ₦13,538.79 in November. On a yearly basis, the price dropped by over 22 per cent.

For kerosene, the average price per litre fell slightly to ₦2,605.26 in December, though it remained higher than last year. The average price per gallon rose to ₦9,929.21.

The NBS said price differences remain across states and regions.

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The NBS made this known in its Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch released in Abuja on Monday.

It said that the December 2025 price of N1,048.63 represented a 11.81 per cent decrease over the price of N1,189.12 recorded in December 2024.

“Comparing the average price value with the previous month of November, the average retail price also decreased by 1.20 per cent from N1,061.35 recorded in November 2025.

“On state profiles analysis, Kogi paid the highest average retail price of N1,104.45 per litre , followed by Imo at N1,086.26 and Yobe at N1,081.80.

“Conversely, Oyo paid the lowest average retail price of N996.55, followed by Kebbi at N1,003.08 and Nasarawa at N1,011.05,” it said.

Analysis by zone, showed that the North-East recorded the highest average retail price in December 2025 at N1,073.67, while the South-West recorded the lowest at N1,029.51.

The NBS also said, in its Diesel Price Watch Report for December 2025, that the average retail price paid by consumers decreased by 0.57 per cent on a month-on-month basis.

It said that the retail price moved from a higher cost of N1,409.61 per litre recorded in November 2025 to a lower cost of N1,401.63 per litre in December 2025.

On state profiles analysis, it said that the highest average price of diesel in December 2025 was recorded in Enugu at N1,465.69 per litre, followed by Kaduna at N1,449.70, and Bayelsa at N1,441.62

“On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Katsina at N1,297.24 per litre, followed by Kebbi at N1,30.10 and Edo at N1,311.96.

“In addition, the analysis by zone showed that the South-East had the highest price at N1,414.29 per litre , while the North-Central Zone recorded the lowest price at N1,391.94 per litre.”

NA

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