Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased marginally to 15.91% in June 2026, compared with 15.93% in May, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, signalling that overall price pressures remain broadly stable despite persistent increases in food costs.
The latest reading represents a slight decline of 0.02 percentage points month-on-month and a significant improvement from 25.29% recorded in June 2025, reflecting a substantial moderation in inflation over the past year.
On a monthly basis, headline inflation slowed to 1.66% in June from 1.75% in May, suggesting that the pace of price increases moderated further. According to the NBS, the largest contributors to headline inflation during the month were Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Restaurants and Accommodation Services, and Transport.
However, food prices remained the biggest source of inflationary pressure, underscoring the continued strain on household purchasing power.
The NBS reported that food inflation rose to 17.52% year-on-year in June, up from 16.96% in May. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation accelerated sharply to 3.75%, compared with 2.98% in the previous month.
The statistics agency attributed the increase to higher prices of key staples, including crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, dried green peas, yam flour, water yam, beef, bananas, cassava flour, cowpea, garri, Irish potatoes and yam tubers.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy to provide a clearer measure of underlying price trends, also continued to ease. Core inflation stood at 15.92% year-on-year in June, a sharp decline from 25.41% recorded a year earlier. On a monthly basis, it slowed to 1.66% from 1.94% in May.
The NBS also reported that the average Consumer Price Index for the 12 months ending June 2026 declined to 18.82%, compared with 26.88% in the corresponding period of 2025, indicating that inflationary pressures have eased considerably over the past year.
The latest data suggest that while broader inflation continues to moderate, rising food prices remain a major challenge for consumers. Persistent increases in the cost of essential food items could continue to weigh on household spending and complicate efforts to achieve sustained price stability.
For policymakers, the June figures present a mixed picture. The continued decline in headline and core inflation supports the broader disinflation trend, but stubborn food inflation highlights structural supply constraints that monetary policy alone may be unable to resolve. Addressing food production, transportation and distribution bottlenecks is likely to remain critical to sustaining lower inflation in the months ahead.
