Abuja: Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent in May from 15.69 per cent in April, according to data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), signalling a modest uptick in consumer prices despite a slowdown in food inflation.
The NBS said food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest contributor to inflation, while Yobe, Anambra and Sokoto recorded the highest inflation rates among the states.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate stood at 1.75 per cent in May, 0.39 percentage points lower than the 2.13 per cent recorded in April.
“This means that in May, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate recorded in April,” the bureau stated.
Year-on-year, the headline inflation rate for May 2026 was 15.93 per cent, compared with 26.06 per cent in May 2025.
According to the report, the three major contributors to headline inflation on a year-on-year basis were food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.38 per cent), restaurants and accommodation services (2.06 per cent), and transport (1.70 per cent).
The least contributors were recreation, sports and culture (0.05 per cent), alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics (0.06 per cent), and insurance and financial services (0.07 per cent).
The CPI rose to 140.7 in May 2026, reflecting a 2.4-point increase from 138.3 in April.
The NBS also reported that food inflation stood at 16.96 per cent year-on-year in May 2026, compared with 24.55 per cent in May 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation eased to 2.98 per cent in May from 3.63 per cent in April, representing a decline of 0.65 percentage points.
The bureau attributed changes in food prices to increases in the average prices of items such as fresh onions, maize (corn), grains, melon (egusi), water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tuber, yam, sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, plantain and cowpea, among others.
The report stated that core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 16.82 per cent year-on-year in May.
“This shows a decline of 8.10 percentage points when compared with the 24.92 per cent recorded in May 2025,” it said.
However, on a month-on-month basis, core inflation rose to 1.94 per cent in May from 1.03 per cent in April, an increase of 0.92 percentage points.
The NBS further noted that, on a month-on-month basis, inflation in the energy sub-index stood at 0.72 per cent in May, compared with 8.0 per cent in April.
Farm produce inflation was 0.86 per cent, down from 6.0 per cent in April, while services inflation rose to 2.48 per cent from 2.1 per cent.
Goods inflation stood at 0.73 per cent, compared with 3.2 per cent in April, while imported food inflation slowed to 2.28 per cent from 4.4 per cent.
In urban areas, the inflation rate was 16.07 per cent year-on-year in May.
On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation rose to 1.99 per cent from 1.86 per cent in April.
For rural areas, inflation stood at 15.60 per cent year-on-year.
Month-on-month, rural inflation slowed to 1.17 per cent in May from 2.80 per cent in April.
On a state-by-state basis, Yobe recorded the highest all-items inflation rate year-on-year at 24.94 per cent, followed by Anambra at 23.29 per cent and Sokoto at 22.60 per cent.
The lowest year-on-year inflation rates were recorded in Niger (3.07 per cent), Plateau (7.10 per cent) and Edo (7.73 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, Benue recorded the highest inflation rate at 8.23 per cent, followed by Bayelsa at 7.62 per cent and Borno at 7.29 per cent.
In contrast, Niger (-4.55 per cent), Zamfara (-3.36 per cent) and Taraba (-2.67 per cent) recorded declines in month-on-month inflation.
For food inflation, Adamawa recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 29.62 per cent, followed by Kwara at 28.47 per cent and Rivers at 28.40 per cent.
Borno recorded the slowest rise in food inflation at -6.53 per cent, followed by Taraba at 1.13 per cent and Bayelsa at 5.99 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, Bauchi recorded the highest food inflation rate at 7.73 per cent, followed by Ogun at 6.86 per cent and Jigawa at 6.69 per cent.
Meanwhile, Niger (-3.54 per cent), Katsina (-3.48 per cent), and Gombe (-2.22 per cent) recorded declines in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.