Victor Ezeja
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 20.12 per cent in August from 21.88 per cent in July 2025, marking the fifth consecutive month of decline since April.
This was revealed in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe August 2025 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.76 per cent compared to the July 2025 headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 12.03 per cent lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (32.15 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2025 was 0.74 per cent. This is 1.25 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July 2025 (1.99 per cent). “This means that in August 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2025,” NBS stated in its CPI report for August.
The headline inflation rate had dropped to 23.71 per cent in April 2025, down from 24.23 per cent in March. From then it continued, dropping to 22.97 per cent in May, 22.22 percent in June and 21.88 per cent in July.
On the contributions of items on the divisional level to the Headline Index, food again emerged as the highest contributor with 8.05 per cent, followed by Restaurants and Accommodation Services (2.60 per cent), Transport (2.15 per cent), and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels (1.69 per cent).
Food Inflation
The Food inflation rate in August 2025 was 21.87 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This revealed a decrease of 0.87 percentage points from 22.74 per cent recorded in July 2024.
This was 15.65% points lower compared to the rate recorded in August 2024 (37.52 per cent).
“The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” the statistical service explained.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Inflation Records Fourth-straight Drop To 21.88% Amid Food Price Surge
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate dropped by 1.47 percentage points to 1.65 per cent in August 2025 from 3.12 per cent in July 2025. “The decrease can be attributed to the rate of decline in the average prices of Rice (Imported), Rice (local), and Guinea corn flour, Maize flour sold loose, Guinea Corn (Sorghum), Millet, Semolina, Soya milk, etc.,” NBS further stated.
The core inflation (which excludes volatile farm produce and energy) moderated to 20.33 per cent year-on-year from 27.58 per cent in the same period of the previous year. However, it edged higher on a monthly basis, rising to 1.43 per cent from 0.97 per cent.
The NBS headline inflation figure for August 2025 was lower than the 20.83 per cent projection made by analysts at the United Capital Research (UCR) and Cowry Research. They made their forecast based on a combination of factors, including decreasing prices of major food items, relatively stable energy prices, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, and exchange rate stability (Naira against the U.S. Dollar).
Cowry Research attributed the decline in the headline inflation rate to a drop in food prices as a result of early harvest, FX stability, improved liquidity conditions, and subdued global commodity prices.
“The moderation was underpinned by early harvest inflows, sustained FX stability, improved liquidity conditions, and subdued global commodity prices,” the financial services firm stated.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
