By John Moses
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined for the second consecutive month, falling to 22.97% in May 2025, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The drop represents a 0.74 percentage point decrease from the 23.71% recorded in April, as outlined in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released by the Bureau on Monday in Abuja.
On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate slowed to 1.53%, compared with 1.86% in the previous month. The moderation was primarily attributed to reduced increases in the prices of several key goods and services.
The three biggest contributors to the annual inflation figure were Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (9.20%), Restaurants and Accommodation Services (2.97%), and Transport (2.45%). In contrast, Recreation and Culture, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics, and Insurance and Financial Services saw the smallest impact, contributing less than 0.12% each.
Food inflation remained a significant concern, with the annual food inflation rate hitting 21.14%, driven by price drops in items such as yam, cassava tubers, maize flour, fresh peppers, and sweet potatoes. However, food inflation on a monthly basis edged up slightly to 2.19%, compared with 2.06% in April.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as agricultural produce and energy, stood at 22.28% year-on-year, while monthly core inflation dropped to 1.10% from 1.34% in April.
Urban inflation for May was recorded at 23.14% year-on-year, while the rural rate stood at 22.70%. Bayelsa recorded the highest monthly inflation rate among states at 9.11%, while Kaduna reported a -6.75% decrease, the most significant drop.
The report also reflects the outcome of Nigeria’s recent CPI rebasing, which updates the base year from 2009 to 2024 to better reflect modern consumption patterns. As a result, the CPI index rose to 121.35 points in May, an increase of 1.83 points from April.
Statistician-General Adeyemi Adeniran said the rebasing aims to improve the relevance and accuracy of Nigeria’s economic indicators by incorporating new economic sectors and refining data methodologies.
