Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 15.93% in May — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 percent in May.

The NBS disclosed this development in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for May released in Abuja on Monday.

The report said that the May headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24 percent compared to the April headline inflation rate of 15.69 percent.

Furthermore, the report said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May was 1.75 percent, which was 0.39 percent lower than the rate recorded in April at 2.13 pe cent.

It said: “This means that in May, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April.”

It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate for May 2026 stood at 15.93  percent, compared to the 26.06 percent recorded in May 2025.

It listed the three major contributors to the headline inflation year-on-year as food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.38 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 2.06 percent, and transport at 1.70 percent.

The report said that the least contributors were recreation, sports, and culture at 0.05 percent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics at  0.06 percent, and insurance and financial services at 0.07 percent.

It said that the CPI increased to 140.7 in May 2026, and reflected a 2.4 -point increase from the 138.3 recorded in April.

The report said the food inflation rate in May 2026 was 16.96 percent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the rate recorded in May 2025 at 24.55 percent.

It said that on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in May was 2.98 percent, which decreased by 0.65 percent compared to the 3.63 percent recorded in April.

The NBS highlighted the rate of change in the average prices of fresh onions, maize (corn), grains, melon (egusi), water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, and fresh pepper.

The report said: “Others are fresh tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tuber, yam tuber, sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, plantain, cowpea, among others.

“All items less farm produce and energy or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 16.82  percent in May. on a year-on-year basis.

“This shows a decline of 8.1 percent when compared to the 24.92 percent recorded in May 2025.

“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.94 percent in May which increased by 0.92 percent compared to the 1.03 percent recorded in April.”

The report said that the inflation rate of the sub-indices for May 2026 on a month-on-month basis showed that energy stood at 0.72 percent compared to 8.0 percent in April.

It said farm produce stood at 0.86 percent compared to 6.0 percent in April, while services stood at 2.48 percent compared to the 2.1 percent recorded in April.

Goods stood at 0.73 percent compared to the 3.2 percent recorded in April, while imported food stood at 2.28 percent compared to the 4.4 percent recorded in April.

It said that on a year-on-year basis in May 2026, the urban inflation rate was 16.07 percent.

It added: “On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.99 percent, which increased by 0.13 percent compared to April at 1.86 percent.”

The report said that in May, rural inflation rate was 15.60 percent on a year-on-year basis.

“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 1.17 percent, which decreased by 1.63 percent compared to April at 2.80 percent.”

On states’ profile analysis, the report showed that in May, the all-items index inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Yobe at 24.94 percent, followed by Anambra at 23.29 percent, and Sokoto at 22.60 percent.

It said that the lowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Niger at 3.07 percent, followed by Plateau at 7.10 percent, and Edo at 7.73 percent.