Headline inflation falls 3rd consecutive month to 15.39%

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By Elizabeth Adegbesan

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Headline inflation rate fell by 0.04 percent to 15.39 percent in August from 15.43 percent in July 2026, representing the third consecutive month decline since June.

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The development was driven by a further ease in the core basket to 13.29 percent in August from 14.97 percent in July.

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The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this yesterday in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, report for August 2026.

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NBS stated: “In August 2026, the Headline inflation rate stood at 15.39 percent, down from 15.43 percent in July 2026 and stood at 23.14 percent in the same month of the preceding year (August 2025).

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“Looking at the movement, the August

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2026 Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.04 percent compared to the July 2026 Headline inflation rate.

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“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in August 2026 was 0.71 percent, which was 0.86 percent lower than the rate recorded in July 2026 (1.57 percent).

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

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Likewise, food inflation declined by 0.74 percentage points to 19.57 percent in August from 20.31 percent in July.

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MoM, food inflation dropped by 4.55 percentage points showing that the

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average prices of food items are increasing at a slower pace in August 2026.

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According to the Bureau, the decline in the food inflation rate was due to changes in the average prices of palm oil, carrots, pepper, onions, cassava flour, beef, yam flour, water yam, melon (egusi), fresh ginger, fresh fish, irish potatoes, wheat

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grain, frozen chicken, turkey meat, yam flour, among others.

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NBS highlighted Adamawa (38.85 percent), Zamfara (37.96 percent), and Bayelsa (36.2 percent) as states with highest food inflation in August 2026, while Borno (-4.04 percent), Jigawa (-0.23 percent) and Kebbi (3.47 percent) recorded the slowest rise in YoY food inflation.

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However, MoM food inflation was highest in Katsina (9.48 percent), Rivers (8.86 percent) and Osun (8.32 percent), while

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Taraba (-12.42 percent), Borno (-12.15 percent), and Bauchi (-8.88 percent) recorded the slowest pace.

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