LAGOS – The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has said Nigeria’s headline inflation decline to 15.10 percent in January signals a decisive shift towards macroeconomic stabilisation, with encouraging implications for households and investors.
Founder of CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf, stated this on Monday in Lagos while reacting to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed a 0.05 percentage point drop in inflation for January 2026.
Yusuf noted that the easing of inflationary pressure was broad-based across key components of the price index. Food inflation, he said, declined sharply to 8.89 per cent year-on-year in January, down from 29.63 per cent in January 2025 and 10.84 percent in December 2025.
Core inflation also moderated to 17.72 per cent year-on-year in January, compared with 18.63 percent in December 2025, indicating that price moderation is extending beyond food to other segments of the consumption basket.
According to him, the sharp decline in food inflation would deliver significant welfare gains, as food accounts for the largest share of household spending in Nigeria.
Lower food prices, he explained, are expected to boost real purchasing power, particularly for low-income households, ease food-security pressures and gradually revive demand for non-food goods and services.
“If sustained, these developments could stimulate retail trade, manufacturing utilisation and service-sector activity, thereby supporting broader economic recovery,” he said.
However, Yusuf cautioned that prolonged declines in food prices could pose risks to farm incomes and rural economic stability. Persistent weakness in farm-gate prices, he warned, could reduce farmers’ revenues and investment capacity, weaken rural purchasing power and discourage agricultural production, potentially leading to future supply shortages and renewed inflationary pressures.
He stressed the need to balance consumer affordability with producer sustainability to safeguard national food security, recommending targeted measures such as productivity support, minimum guaranteed prices for selected crops, strategic reserves and expanded agro-processing capacity to absorb surplus output.
Yusuf also highlighted state-level disparities in inflation, noting that headline inflation was highest in Benue, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory, and lowest in Ebonyi, Katsina and Imo.
He said the pattern underscores the impact of transport costs, security conditions and supply-chain efficiency on price formation, urging government to address structural constraints to achieve durable nationwide price stability.
He maintained that consolidating disinflation while protecting agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods would be critical to translating current price moderation into lasting stability and inclusive growth.
