November 17, (THEWILL) — Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 16.05% in October 2025, down from 18.02% recorded in September, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Bureau said the October figure represents a 1.96% decline from September, signalling a continued moderation in price growth nationwide.
Year-on-year, October 2025 inflation was 17.82 percentage points lower than the 33.88% recorded in October 2024.
The NBS noted that the sharp drop was partly influenced by the new CPI base year (November 2009 = 100), which affects annual comparisons.
Despite the slowdown in annual inflation, month-on-month inflation rose to 0.93% in October — 0.21% higher than the 0.72% recorded in September — indicating slightly faster price increases within the month.
Urban inflation slowed significantly to 15.65% year-on-year, a decline of 20.73 percentage points from 36.38% in October 2024.
Month-on-month, however, urban inflation rose to 1.14%, up from 0.74% in September. The twelve-month urban inflation average stood at 22.68%, down by 11.84 percentage points from the same period in 2024.
Rural inflation also decelerated to 15.86% year-on-year, a 15.73 percentage-point drop from 31.59% in October 2024.
On a monthly basis, rural inflation fell to 0.45%, down from 0.67% in September. The twelve-month average declined to 20.81%, 9.42 percentage points lower than a year earlier.
Food inflation fell sharply to 13.12% year-on-year in October — a substantial drop of 26.04 percentage points from 39.16% in October 2024, influenced partly by the base year change.
Month-on-month food inflation rose to -0.37%, an improvement from -1.57% in September. The uptick was driven by higher prices of onions, fruits, shrimp, groundnuts, vegetables such as ugu and okazi leaf, and meats including goat meat, cow tail and liver.
The twelve-month average food inflation rate dropped to 21.96%, down by 16.16 percentage points from October 2024.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, eased to 18.69% year-on-year, down by 9.68 percentage points from 28.37% in October 2024. Month-on-month core inflation dipped slightly to 1.416% from 1.417% in September.
The twelve-month average declined to 21.61%, compared to 26.12% a year earlier.
Overall, the latest data indicates a broad reduction in inflationary pressures across urban and rural economies, as well as food and core segments, although month-on-month increases show that short-term price pressures remain.
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