Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased marginally to 15.91 percent in June 2026, down from 15.93 percent recorded in May, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
The slight decline marks a modest slowdown in the pace of rising consumer prices, driven largely by a reduction in core inflation, which fell to 15.92 percent in June from 16.82 percent in May.
The NBS said the headline inflation rate dropped by 0.02 percentage points compared to the previous month, while month-on-month inflation also moderated to 1.66 percent from 1.75 percent recorded in May.
“In June 2026, the headline inflation rate was 15.91 percent, down from 15.93 percent in May 2026,” the bureau stated.“This means that in June 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate recorded in May 2026.”
Despite the slight improvement in headline inflation, food prices continued to rise across the country.
The NBS reported that food inflation increased to 17.52 percent in June on a year-on-year basis, up from 16.96 percent recorded in May, although it remained below the 25.41 percent posted in June 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation rose sharply to 3.75 percent in June, compared to 2.98 percent in May.
According to the bureau, the increase was driven by higher prices of key food items, including crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, dried green peas, yam flour, water yam, beef, bananas, cassava flour, cowpeas, garri, Irish potatoes and yam tubers.
The report also showed that the average annual food inflation rate for the 12 months ending June 2026 stood at 16.42 percent, significantly lower than the 31.93 percent recorded during the same period in 2025.
Across the states, Kogi recorded the highest food inflation rate on a year-on-year basis at 53.02 percent, followed by Niger at 43.83 percent and Benue at 40.83 percent.
In contrast, Katsina recorded the slowest increase in food inflation at 19.15 percent, followed by Rivers at 23.81 percent and Imo at 24.60 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, Katsina posted the highest food inflation rate at 16.82 percent, while Kebbi and Niger recorded 9.79 percent and 8.96 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Borno, Benue and Bayelsa recorded the slowest food inflation growth rates, posting -3.54 percent, -2.36 percent and -1.34 percent, respectively.
The latest figures suggest that while overall inflationary pressures eased slightly in June, rising food costs continue to weigh heavily on household spending across the country.
