Nigeria's inflation is steady at 15.39%. What is driving it?
Headline inflation has stayed between 15% and 16% all year, while food inflation has more than doubled and core inflation has fallen to its lowest reading in twelve months.
Key findings
- Headline inflation was 15.39% in August 2026, almost unchanged from 15.43% in July.
- Food inflation rose from 8.89% in January to 20.31% in July, then eased to 19.57% in August.
- Core inflation fell to 13.29%, its lowest reading in the past twelve monthly releases.
- Prices rose 0.71% in the month, the smallest monthly increase since December 2025.
Nigeria's headline inflation rate was 15.39% in August 2026, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on 15 September, almost unchanged from 15.43% in July. It has stayed between 15% and 16% in every month this year.
- Headline inflation
- 15.39%
- Food inflation
- 19.57%
- Core inflation
- 13.29%
- Prices, month on month
- 0.71%
Food is driving prices again
Food inflation, which covers about 28% of the consumer basket, rose from 8.89% in January to 20.31% in July before easing to 19.57% in August. Food prices rose a further 1.02% during August alone.
Core inflation keeps cooling
Core inflation, which leaves out farm produce and energy and makes up about two thirds of the basket, has moved the other way: from 17.72% in January to 13.29% in August, its lowest reading in the past twelve monthly releases. Core prices fell slightly during August, by 0.06% from July.
The monthly pace is slowing
Across the whole basket, prices rose 0.71% from July, the smallest monthly increase since December 2025. From April to July, monthly increases ran between 1.57% and 2.13%.
What to watch
The National Bureau of Statistics is due to publish September's figures in mid-October. They will show whether food inflation keeps retreating from its July peak, and whether core inflation keeps falling while the headline rate holds.
Methodology
All figures are from the National Bureau of Statistics' Consumer Price Index tables for August 2026, published on 15 September 2026, on the bureau's 2024 base. Year-on-year rates compare each month with the same month a year earlier; month-on-month rates compare it with the month before.
The bureau's current tables restate 2025, so year-on-year rates for 2025 can differ from those it announced at the time. This note therefore compares months within 2026 only.