ABUJA – The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has said that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased further to 18.02 percent in September 2025.
NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for September 2025, which was released in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to the report, the headline inflation showed a decrease of 2.1 percent compared to the 20.12 percent recorded in August 2025.
The report said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 14.68 percent lower than the rate recorded in September 2024 at 32.70 percent.
Furthermore, the report said ‘on a month-on-month’, the headline inflation rate in September 2025 was 0.72 per cent, which was 0.02 percent lower than the rate recorded in August 2025 at 0.74 percent.
“This means that in September 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2025.”
The report said the increase in the headline index for September 2025 was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
It said the three major contributors to the headline inflation year on year were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages at 7.21 percent, Restaurants and Accommodation Services at 2.33per cent, and Transport at 1.92 percent.
The report showed the least contributors were Recreation, Sport, and Culture at 0.06 percent, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics at 0.07 percent, and Insurance and Financial Services at 0.08 per cent.
The report said the food inflation rate in September 2025 was 16.87 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 20.9 percentage points lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2024 at 37.77 percent.
“The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year.”
It said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September was -1.57 percent, which decreased by 3.22 percent compared to the 1.65 percent recorded in August 2025.
The NBS said the decrease in food inflation was attributed to the reduction in average prices of items such as Maize(Corn), Grains, Garri, Beans, Millet, Potatoes, Onions, Eggs, Tomatoes, Fresh Pepper, etc.
The report said that “all items less farm produce and energy’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 19.53 percent in September 2025, on a year-on-year basis.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 1.42 percent in September, which decreased by 0.01 percent compared to the 1.43 percent recorded in August 2025.”
The report said that on a year-on-year basis in September 2025, the urban inflation rate was 17.50 percent, which was 17.63 percent points lower than 35.13 percent in September 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 0.74 percent, which increased by 0.25 percent compared to August at 0.49 percent.”
The report said that in September, the rural inflation rate was 18.26 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 12.23 per cent points lower than the 30.49 percent in September 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 0.67 percent, which decreased by 0.71 percent compared to August at 1.38 percent.”
On states’ profile analysis, the report showed that in September, the all-items index inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Adamawa at 23.69 percent, followed by Katsina at 23.53 per cent and Nasarawa at 22.29 percent.
It said the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Anambra at 9.28 percent, followed by Niger at 11.79 per cent, and Bauchi at 12.36 percent.
The report, however, said that in September 2025, the inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was highest in Zamfara at 9.36 per cent, followed by Adamawa at 18.15 per cent, and Nasarawa at 7.49 percent.
“Niger -8.14 percent, followed by Oyo at -5.56 percent and Bayelsa at -4.61 percent recorded the slowest rise in month-on-month inflation.”
The report said on a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Ekiti at 28.68 percent, followed by Rivers at 24.18 percent, and Nasarawa at 22.74 percent.
Bauchi at 2.81 percent, followed by Niger at 8.38 percent and Anambra 8.41 percent recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.’’
The report, however, said on a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Zamfara at 15.62 percent, followed by Ekiti 12.77 percent, and Sokoto at 12.55 percent.
“Akwa Ibom at -12.97 percent, followed by Borno at -22.95 percent and Cross River at -10.36 percent, recorded the slowest rise in inflation on a month-on-month basis.”
The NBS said that based on the recent rebasing of the CPI, it rose to 127.7 in September 2025, which reflected a 0.9 point increase from the 126.8 recorded in August 2025.
Recall that the NBS recently rebased the CPI, bringing the base year closer to the current period, from 2009 to 2024, with 2023 as the reference period for expenditure weights
