Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 15.67% in April

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose slightly to 15.69 percent in April 2026, from 15.38 percent recorded in March 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS$.

But the bureau said the latest figures showed a sharp decline when compared with the 26.82 percent recorded in April 2025.

The report follows the completion of the readjustment of the Consumer Price Index, which now refers to a new base year in 2024 and a weighted reference period in 2023.

According to the statistics agency, the CPI rose to 138.3 points in April 2026, reflecting an increase of 2.9 points from the previous month.

On a monthly basis, headline inflation slowed to 2.13 percent in April, compared with 4.18 percent recorded in March, indicating a moderation in the pace of price increases.

The NBS attributed this inflationary trend to rising prices for food, transportation and hospitality-related services.

It said that the main contributors to headline inflation were Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, which contributed 6.40 percentage points, Restaurants and Accommodation Services at 3.56 percentage points, and Transportation at 1.70 percentage points.

The least contributors are Recreation, Sports and Culture, Alcoholic Drinks, Tobacco and Drugs, and Insurance and Financial Services.
Food inflation reached 16.06 percent on a year-on-year basis in April 2026, lower than 24.68 percent recorded in the same period in 2025.

READ ALSO: Wike-led PDP presidential aspirant praises Tinubu’s economic policies

On a monthly basis, food inflation fell to 3.63 percent from 4.17 percent in March.

The bureau attributed the moderation to changes in the average prices of staple foodstuffs including millet, yam flour, fresh ginger, beef, garri, fresh pepper, beans, tomatoes, cassava tubers, wheat grains, soybeans, guinea corn, plantains, carrots and Irish potatoes.

Core inflation, excluding agricultural output and volatile energy prices, rose to 15.86 percent year-on-year in April 2026.

However, on a monthly basis, core inflation slowed significantly to 1.03 percent, from 4.03 percent recorded in March.

The report also introduced new inflation sub-indices, showing monthly inflation rates of 6.0 percent for agricultural products, 8.0 percent for energy, 2.1 percent for services, 3.2 percent for goods, and 4.4 percent for imported food.

On an annual basis, agricultural product inflation reached 19.8 percent, services at 16.7 percent, goods at 15.7 percent, imported food at 10.5 percent, and energy inflation at 4.6 percent.

Urban inflation was recorded at 15.40 percent year-on-year in April, while rural inflation was recorded higher at 16.36 percent.
On a monthly basis, urban inflation slowed to 1.86 percent from 3.16 percent in March, while rural inflation slowed sharply to 2.80 percent from 6.73 percent.

At the state level, Sokoto recorded the highest year-on-year headline inflation rate at 25.74 percent, followed by Bauchi at 22.52 percent and Zamfara at 22.03 percent.

Edo recorded the slowest increase in general inflation at 5.91 percent, followed by Borno at 6.72 percent and Jigawa at 7.04 percent.

On a monthly basis, Niger recorded the highest increase in inflation at 5.66 percent, followed by Kano at 4.50 percent and Plateau at 4.39 percent.

Bayelsa, Enugu and Rivers recorded the slowest monthly increases.
In terms of food inflation, Enugu posted the highest year-on-year food inflation rate at 32.67 percent, followed by Kwara at 30.77 percent and Adamawa at 30.14 percent.

Borno recorded the slowest increase in food inflation at 1.67 percent, while Jigawa and Taraba recorded increases of 6.17 percent and 7.19 percent respectively.

On a monthly basis, the highest food inflation occurred in Niger at 8.53 percent, followed by Bauchi at 6.78 percent and Kogi at 6.72 percent.

Kebbi, Katsina and Bayelsa recorded the slowest monthly food inflation rates during the period.