Nigeria’s inflation cools to lowest since 2025 despite rising energy prices

Nigeria's headline inflation rate fell to 14.63% in September 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This is a drop from 15.39% in August, marking the fourth consecutive month of disinflation. The decline is 6.35 percentage points since September 2025 when inflation was recorded at 20.98%. The month-on-month inflation also slowed to 0.06% from 0.71% the previous month, suggesting a deceleration in price increases.

The NBS data reveals varying trends between urban and rural areas, as well as food inflation. Urban inflation was 15.64% year-on-year in September 2026, while the twelve-month average was 15.90%. Annual inflation was 12.58 percentage points lower than in September 2025, when it stood at 28.48%. Rural inflation declined by 2.68 percentage points month-on-month.

Food inflation, however, registered a decline month-on-month, falling to 19.59% year-on-year from 20.16% in September 2025. On a month-to-month basis, food inflation declined to -1.55%, compared to 1.02% in August, a drop of 2.57 percentage points. This decline in food prices contributed to moderating headline inflation despite core inflation strengthening compared to August.

The decline in food prices played a significant role in moderating the overall inflation rate. Nairametrics previously reported that the Nigerian naira strengthened to N1,333 per dollar at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) on October 14, 2026, as market participants awaited the latest inflation data.