Inflation drops to 15.39% for August

In August 2026, headline inflation in Nigeria decreased to 15.39 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, reported this on Tuesday. Adeniran noted that the year-on-year headline inflation rate for August 2026 was lower than the previous month's 15.43 percent and the rates of July 2026 and August 2025, which were 15.43 percent and 23.14 percent, respectively.

The month-on-month inflation rate in August 2026 was 0.71 percent, a decrease of 0.86 percentage points from July 2026's 1.57 percent. Adeniran attributed the decline to lower food prices, with food inflation at 19.57 percent year-on-year in August 2026, down from 25.30 percent in the same month of the previous year. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was 1.02 percent, a decrease from 5.56 percent in July 2026.

Adeniran explained that the decline in food prices could be attributed to changes in the prices of various items including palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon (egusi), fresh ginger, fresh fish, Irish potatoes, wheat grain, frozen chicken, and turkey meat. The urban inflation rate stood at 15.88 percent year-on-year, while the rural rate was 14.23 percent year-on-year.

The highest inflation rates were observed in Lagos (23.68 percent), Zamfara (22.56 percent), and Enugu (22.06 percent), while the lowest were in Sokoto (2.11 percent), Kebbi (3.72 percent), and Jigawa (3.81 percent). On a month-on-month basis, the highest increases were recorded in Rivers (6.92 percent), Osun (5.61 percent), and Kano (5.59 percent), while Anambra (-8.83 percent), Bauchi (-7.13 percent), and Borno (-7.09 percent) saw the lowest rates.

The food inflation was highest in Adamawa (38.85 percent), Zamfara (37.96 percent), and Bayelsa (36.20 percent), while Borno (-4.04 percent), Jigawa (-0.23 percent), and Kebbi (3.47 percent) recorded the lowest rates.