Nigeria’s inflation rises to 15.93% in May as food prices continue to drive cost of living

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 15.93% in May 2026, marking the third consecutive monthly rise this year despite a moderation in the pace of monthly price increases, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The CPI rose to 140.7 in May from 138.3 recorded in April, reflecting continued upward pressure on consumer prices across the economy.

Although the annual inflation rate continued its upward trend, month-on-month inflation eased to 1.75% in May from 2.13% recorded in April, indicating that prices still increased but at a slower pace than in the previous month.

Headline inflation has steadily climbed from 15.38% in March to 15.69% in April before reaching 15.93% in May, extending the upward trend for a third consecutive month.

Despite the increase, inflation remains significantly below the 26.06% recorded in May 2025, suggesting that overall price pressures have eased considerably compared with a year earlier.

The NBS said the May inflation rate was 0.24 percentage points higher than April’s figure.

“In May 2026, the headline inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was 1.75 per cent, which was 0.39 per cent lower than the rate recorded in April 2026 (2.13 per cent). This means that in May 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2026,” the bureau said.

It added: “On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent, up from 15.69 per cent in April 2026 and down from 26.06 per cent in the same month of the preceding year.”

Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.38 percentage points of the annual rate. Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 2.06 percentage points, while transport accounted for 1.70 percentage points.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 1.34 percentage points, followed by education (0.99 percentage points), health (0.97 percentage points) and clothing and footwear (0.80 percentage points).

The NBS also reported that the average inflation rate for the 12 months ending May stood at 18.36%, down sharply from 30.57% recorded during the corresponding period last year.

Food inflation remained a major source of pressure on household spending. Annual food inflation stood at 16.96%, compared with 24.55% in May 2025, while month-on-month food inflation slowed to 2.98% from 3.63% in April.

The bureau attributed higher food prices to rising costs of staple commodities including onions, maize, melon, water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tubers, yam tubers, sweet potatoes, ginger, plantain and cowpea.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 16.82% year-on-year, down from 24.92% a year earlier. However, on a monthly basis, core inflation accelerated to 1.94% from 1.03%, suggesting broader underlying price pressures strengthened during May.

Urban inflation reached 16.07% year-on-year, with monthly urban inflation increasing to 1.99%. Rural inflation stood at 15.60% annually, while monthly rural inflation slowed significantly to 1.17% from 2.80% in April.

Services inflation remained elevated at 17.92% year-on-year and 2.84% month-on-month. Imported food inflation was 14.60% annually, while goods inflation stood at 6.62% and energy inflation at 5.73% on a year-on-year basis.

At the state level, Yobe recorded the highest annual headline inflation rate at 24.94%, followed by Anambra (23.29%) and Sokoto (22.60%).

By contrast, Niger recorded the lowest annual inflation rate at 3.07%, ahead of Plateau (7.10%) and Edo (7.73%).

On a month-on-month basis, Benue posted the highest increase in headline inflation at 8.23%, followed by Bayelsa (7.62%) and Borno (7.29%).

The report showed that Adamawa recorded the highest annual food inflation rate at 29.62%, followed by Kwara (28.47%) and Rivers (28.40%).

Meanwhile, Borno recorded food deflation of 6.53%, while Taraba and Bayelsa posted the slowest annual increases in food prices.

On a monthly basis, Bauchi recorded the highest food inflation rate at 7.73%, followed by Ogun (6.86%) and Jigawa (6.69%), while Niger, Katsina and Gombe recorded declines in food prices during the month.