Nigeria’s inflation rate eases to 20.12% in August –  NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased further to 20.12 per cent in August.

The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for August 2025, which was released in Abuja on Monday.

According to the report, the headline inflation showed a decrease of 1.76  per cent compared to the 21.88  per cent recorded in July.

The report said that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 12.03 per cent  lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 at  32.15 per cent.

Furthermore, the report said that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August was 0.74  per cent, which was 1.25 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July at 1.99 per cent.

“This means that in August, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower  than the rate of increase in the average price level in July,” it said

The report attributed the increase in the headline index for August to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.

It said that the three major contributors to the headline inflation year on year were food and non-alcoholic beverages at 8.05 per cent, restaurants and  accommodation services at 2.60 per cent, and transport at 2.15 per cent.

It showed that the least contributors were recreation, sport, and culture at 0.06 per cent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics at  0.07 per cent, and insurance and financial services at 0.09 per cent.

The report said that the food inflation rate in August was 21.87 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.65 percentage points lower compared to the rate recorded in August at 37.52 per cent.

“The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year.”

It said that on a month-on-month basis,  the food inflation rate in August was 1.65  per cent, which decreased by 1.47  per cent compared to the 3.12 per cent recorded in July.

The NBS report attributed the decrease in food inflation to the reduction in average prices of items.

It listed such items to include imported and local rice,  guinea corn flour, maize flour sold loose, guinea corn (sorghum), jillet, semolina and soya milk.

It said that all items less farm produce and energy or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 20.33 per cent in August on a year-on-year basis.

“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.43  per cent in August, which increased by 0.46 per cent  compared to the 0.97  per cent recorded in July,” it said.

The report said that on a year-on-year basis in August 2025, the urban inflation rate was 19.75 per cent.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 0.49 per cent, which decreased  by 1.37 per cent compared to July at 1.86  per cent.”

It said that in August, the rural inflation rate was 20.28  per cent on a year-on-year basis.

“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 1.38 per cent, which increased by 0.92 per cent compared to July at 2.30 per cent.”

On states’ profile analysis, the report showed that in August, the all-items index inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Ekiti at 28.17 per cent.