Nigeria's inflation rate climbed to 15.93% in May 2026, marking the third consecutive monthly increase as food prices continued to exert pressure on household budgets. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the annual inflation rate rose from 15.69% in April, extending a rebound that began in March.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 140.7 in May from 138.3 in April. On a month-on-month basis, inflation was 1.75%, a decrease from 2.13% recorded in April, indicating a slowdown in the pace of price increases for the month.
Despite the moderation in monthly inflation, the annual rate continued its upward trend. The May figure of 15.93% is significantly lower than the 26.06% recorded in May 2025, highlighting a substantial easing in inflationary pressures compared to the previous year.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributors to headline inflation, accounting for 6.38 percentage points of the annual rate. Other significant contributors included restaurants and accommodation services (2.06%), transport (1.70%), and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.34%).
The average inflation for the 12 months ending May 2026 stood at 18.36%, a considerable decrease from 30.57% in the corresponding period of 2025. Food inflation was 16.96% year-on-year in May, down from 24.55% in May 2025. Month-on-month food inflation eased to 2.98% from 3.63% in April.
The NBS attributed the rise in food prices to increased costs of onions, maize grains, melon, water yam, cassava flour, crayfish, fresh pepper, tomatoes, wheat grain, cassava tubers, yam tubers, sweet potatoes, ginger, plantain, and cowpea. The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending May 2026 was 16.99%, down by 16.22 percentage points from 33.21% in May 2025.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 16.82% year-on-year in May. However, the month-on-month core inflation rate accelerated to 1.94% from 1.03% in April, suggesting strengthening underlying price pressures in the broader economy.
Urban inflation was 16.07% year-on-year, with the monthly rate rising to 1.99% from 1.86% in April. The 12-month average urban inflation rate was 18.27%, down from 32.55% a year earlier. Rural inflation stood at 15.60% year-on-year, with the monthly rate slowing to 1.17% from 2.80% in April. The 12-month average rural inflation rate eased to 18.19% from 28.36% in May 2025.
Services inflation remained elevated at 17.92% year-on-year and 2.84% month-on-month. Imported food inflation was 14.60% annually and 2.28% monthly, while goods inflation was 6.62% year-on-year and 0.73% month-on-month. Energy inflation stood at 5.73% year-on-year and 0.72% month-on-month.
At the state level, Yobe recorded the highest headline inflation rate at 24.94% year-on-year, followed by Anambra (23.29%) and Sokoto (22.60%). Niger recorded the lowest annual inflation rate at 3.07%, followed by Plateau (7.10%) and Edo (7.73%).
On a month-on-month basis, Benue recorded the highest increase at 8.23%, followed by Bayelsa (7.62%) and Borno (7.29%). Niger recorded a decline of 4.55%. Adamawa recorded the highest annual food inflation rate at 29.62%, followed by Kwara (28.47%) and Rivers (28.40%). Borno recorded food deflation of 6.53%.
