Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to 15.91 per cent in June 2026, but food prices accelerated sharply during the month.
This underscores the continued pressure on household budgets despite broader signs of easing price growth.
In its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday, June 15, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that headline inflation declined marginally from 15.93 per cent recorded in May to 15.91 per cent in June.
The rate was also significantly lower than the 25.29 per cent recorded in June 2025.
The NBS said the CPI rose to 143.0 points in June from 140.7 points in May, while the year-on-year headline inflation rate decreased by 0.02 percentage points.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in June 2026 was 1.66%, which was 0.09% lower than the rate recorded in May 2026 (1.75%). 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,” NBS said.
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Despite the slight moderation in overall inflation, food inflation moved in the opposite direction.
The report showed that food inflation rose to 17.52 per cent year-on-year in June, while month-on-month food inflation climbed to 3.75 per cent from 2.98 per cent in May, indicating that food prices increased at a faster pace during the month.
According to the NBS, the increase was driven by higher average prices of products including crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, dried green peas, yam flour, water yam, beef, banana, cassava flour, cowpea, garri, Irish potatoes and yam tubers.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.37 percentage points, followed by restaurants and accommodation services, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, education and health.
The report also showed differences between urban and rural inflation trends.
Urban inflation stood at 16.08 per cent year-on-year in June, while month-on-month urban inflation rose to 2.13 per cent from 1.99 per cent in May.
Rural inflation was lower at 15.48 per cent year-on-year, while monthly rural inflation slowed to 0.52 per cent from 1.17 per cent recorded in May.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, also moderated.
It stood at 15.92 per cent year-on-year in June, compared with 25.41 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation slowed to 1.66 per cent from 1.94 per cent in May.
Across the states, Niger recorded the highest headline 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 recorded the lowest headline 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 posted the highest year-on-year rate at 53.02 per cent, followed by Niger at 43.83 per cent and Benue at 40.83 per cent.
Katsina, Rivers and Imo recorded the slowest increase in food prices during the period.
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X