Food inflation still rising despite drop in headline rate

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, yesterday said headline inflation rate slowed Month-on-Month (MoM) by 0.02 percentage point to 15.91 percent in June 2026 from 15.93 percent in May.

The decline is coming after a three consecutive months rise in headline inflation rate since March 2026.

However, despite the moderation in inflation rate, the food index increased by 0.56 percentage points to 17.52 percent in June from 16.96 percent in May 2026 due to the rate of change in the average prices of crayfish, pepper (fresh), tomatoes (fresh), green peas (dried), fresh pepper, yam flour (sold loose), water yam, beef, banana, cassava flour, cow pea, garri, irish potatoes, yam tuber, etc.

The NBS disclosed these in its latest Consumer Price Index, CPI, report.

The slight decline in inflation rate was primarily driven by a 0.9 percent decrease in the core basket to 15.92 percent in June 2026 from 16.82 percent in May 2026.

NBS said: “In June 2026, the headline inflation rate was 15.91 percent, down from 15.93 percent in May 2026 and stood at 25.29 percent in the same month of the preceding year (June 2025).

“Looking at the movement, the June 2026 Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.02 percent compared to the May 2026 headline inflation rate.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2026 was 1.66 percent, which was 0.09 percent lower than the rate recorded in May 2026 (1.75 percent).

“This means that in June 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in May 2026.”

On food inflation, NBS said: “The Food inflation rate in June 2026 was 17.52 percent on a year-on-year basis and stood at 25.41 percent in the same month of the preceding year (June 2025).

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in June 2026 was 3.75 percent, up by 0.77 percent points from May 2026 (2.98 percent).”

The Bureau mentioned that In June 2026, food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (53.02 percent), Niger (43.83 percent), and Benue (40.83 percent).

But Katsina (19.15 percent), Rivers (23.81 percent) and Imo (24.60 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis.

“On a Month-on-Month basis, however, June 2026 food inflation was highest in Katsina (16.82 percent), Kebbi (9.79 percent) and Niger (8.96 percent), while Borno (-3.54 percent), Benue (-2.36 percent), and Bayelsa (-1.34 percent) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis”, NBS added.

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