Nigeria's headline inflation eases to 15.91% in June 2026, food prices still rise
Nigeria's headline inflation eased slightly to 15.91% in June 2026, down from 15.93% in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report released Wednesday. Year-on-year, the rate is down from 25.29% in June 2025, while month-on-month inflation slowed to 1.66% from 1.75%. Food prices, however, kept rising: food inflation stood at 17.52% year-on-year (down from 25.41%) but rose to 3.75% month-on-month from 2.98%, driven by higher costs for fresh pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, beef, garri, yam, cassava flour, cowpea, bananas and Irish potatoes. Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 6.37 percentage points to headline inflation, followed by restaurants and accommodation (2.06), transport (1.70), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.34), education (0.99) and health (0.96). Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy, was 15.92% year-on-year and 1.66% month-on-month. Urban inflation rose to 2.13% month-on-month, while rural inflation fell to 0.52%. State-level data show Niger State with the highest all-items inflation at 42.23%, followed by Kogi (41.59%) and the FCT (39.91%); the lowest rates were in Imo (19.47%), Ebonyi (20.79%) and Katsina (21.87%). For food inflation, Kogi leads at 53.02%, Niger at 43.83% and Benue at 40.83%, while Katsina (19.15%), Rivers (23.81%) and Imo (24.60%) are lowest. With exchange-rate adjustments and higher energy and transport costs still affecting prices, will you adjust your household budget, seek cheaper alternatives, or look for extra income sources to cope with the persistent price pressures?