Nigeria’s Headline Inflation Rate Climbs to 15.93% in May

Nigeria’s Headline Inflation Rate Climbs to 15.93% in May

Nigeria’s headline inflation climbed to 15.93% in May 2026, 24 basis points (bps) higher than the level seen in April, the statistics office said in the report.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 15.93% in May 2026, up from 15.69% in April 2026, reflecting a 0.24% month-on-month increase.

On a year-on-year basis, headline inflation was 26.06% in May 2025, compared to 15.93% in May 2026, indicating a significant decline of 10.13%.

Food inflation rose to 16.96% on a year-on-year basis, due to higher prices of fresh onions, maize grains, melon, water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tuber, yam tuber and sweet potatoes.

Others include fresh ginger, plantain, and cowpea. However, the monthly drop to 2.98% from 3.63% in April 2026 suggested that the pace of food price increases slowed significantly even as annual food inflation continued to rise.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy, increased to 16.82% on a year-on-year basis from 15.86% recorded in April 2026. Also, it spiked to 1.94% from 1.03% in April 2026, reflecting persistent increases in non-food prices as inflationary pressures remain broad-based across the economy.

Urban inflation stood at 16.07%, while rural inflation declined to 15.60% on a year-on-year basis. The highest all items inflation rates were recorded in Yobe (24.94%), Anambra (23.29%), and Sokoto (22.60%), while Niger (3.07%), Plateau (7.10%), and

Edo (7.73%) recorded the lowest increase in annual CPI. On a month- on-month basis, inflation pressures were most pronounced in Benue (8.23%), Bayelsa (7.62%), and Borno (7.29%), whereas Niger (-4.55%), Zamfara (- 3.36%), and Taraba (-2.67%) recorded the lowest inflation rates.

Food Inflation: Prices of food spiked the most in Adamawa (29.62%), Kwara (28.47%), and Rivers (28.40%), while Borno (-6.53%), Taraba (1.13%), and Bayelsa (5.99%) recorded the slowest increases in food prices.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation pressures were highest in Bauchi (7.73%), Ogun (6.86%), and Jigawa (6.69%), whereas Niger (-3.54%), Katsina (-3.48%), and Gombe (-2.22%) recorded the slowest changes across the states.

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