Nigeria’s headline inflation rate recorded a slight decline in June 2026, easing to 15.91 per cent from 15.93 per cent in May, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
The latest figures indicate a marginal slowdown in overall inflation, although food prices continued to climb on a monthly basis, driven by increases in the cost of fresh pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, beef, garri, yam and other staple foods.
According to the NBS, “In June 2026, the Headline inflation rate was 15.91 per cent, down from 15.93 per cent in May 2026 and stood at 25.29 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (June 2025).
Looking at the movement, the June 2026 Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.02 per cent compared to the May 2026 Headline inflation rate.”
The bureau also reported that the Consumer Price Index rose to 143.0 in June from 140.7 recorded in May, representing an increase of 2.3 points over the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 1.66 per cent in June, compared with 1.75 per cent in May.
The report stated, “This means that in June 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in May 2026.”
The June figure marked the first moderation in headline inflation after three straight monthly increases. Inflation had risen from 15.06 per cent in February to 15.38 per cent in March, 15.69 per cent in April and 15.93 per cent in May.
The decline came despite fears that rising global crude oil prices, fuelled by the US-Iran conflict, could intensify inflationary pressures through higher fuel, transportation and food costs as geopolitical tensions continue.
A breakdown of the inflation basket showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.37 percentage points.
Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 2.06 percentage points, transport added 1.70 percentage points, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for 1.34 percentage points.
Education services contributed 0.99 percentage points, with health adding 0.96 percentage points.
Food inflation stood at 17.52 per cent year-on-year in June, lower than the 25.41 per cent recorded in June 2025. However, on a monthly basis, food inflations accelerated to 3.75 per cent from 2.98 per cent in May.
The NBS attributed the increase to higher prices of several food commodities.
It said, “This can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of the following products: Crayfish, Pepper (Fresh), Tomatoes (Fresh), Green Peas (dried), Fresh Pepper, Yam Flour (Sold loose), Water Yam, Beef, Banana, Cassava Flour, Cow Pea, Garri, Irish Potatoes, Yam Tuber, etc.
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Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, declined to 15.92 per cent year-on-year in June from 25.41 per cent recorded in the corresponding month of 2025. On a month-on-month basis, it also slowed to 1.66 per cent from 1.94 per cent in May.
The report further showed that the average headline inflation rate for the 12 months ending June 2026 dropped to 17.63 per cent, compared with 29.82 per cent in June 2025.
Likewise, the average annual food inflation rate fell to 16.42 per cent from 31.93 per cent recorded during the same period of the previous year.
In terms of regional performance, urban inflation stood at 16.08 per cent year-on-year, while rural inflation was recorded at 15.48 per cent.
Month-on-month, urban inflation increased to 2.13 per cent from 1.99 per cent, whereas rural inflation eased to 0.52 per cent from 1.17 per cent in May.
State-by-state data showed that Niger recorded the highest annual all-items inflation rate at 42.23 per cent, followed by Kogi at 41.59 per cent and the Federal Capital Territory at 39.91 per cent.
Imo posted the lowest annual inflation rate at 19.47 per cent, followed by Ebonyi at 20.79 per cent and Katsina at 21.87 per cent.
For food inflation, Kogi recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 53.02 per cent, ahead of Niger at 43.83 per cent and Benue at 40.83 per cent.
Katsina had the lowest food inflation rate at 19.15 per cent, while Rivers and Imo recorded 23.81 per cent and 24.60 per cent, respectively.