Nigeria’s headline inflation rate recorded a slight decline in June 2026, but rising prices continued to weigh heavily on households, with more than half of the country’s states and the Federal Capital Territory posting annual inflation rates above 30 percent.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), headline inflation eased marginally to 15.91 percent in June from 15.93 percent recorded in May.
Despite the slight improvement at the national level, state-by-state data revealed that 19 states and the FCT experienced annual inflation exceeding 30 percent, highlighting significant disparities in the cost of living across the country.
Niger State recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 42.23 percent, followed by Kogi at 41.59 percent and the Federal Capital Territory at 39.91 percent. On the other hand, Imo had the lowest inflation rate at 19.47 percent, followed by Ebonyi and Katsina.
The report also showed that food inflation remained a major concern across several states. Kogi posted the highest annual food inflation rate at 53.02 percent, ahead of Niger and Benue, while the FCT and several other states also recorded food inflation above 30 percent.
Nationally, annual food inflation stood at 17.52 percent in June. However, on a monthly basis, food inflation accelerated to 3.75 percent due to rising prices of staple food items including tomatoes, fresh pepper, beef, garri, yam, cassava flour, cowpea and Irish potatoes.
Monthly inflation trends varied across states, with Niger recording the highest increase in headline inflation, while Bayelsa experienced the sharpest monthly decline.
Economic analysts noted that although the slight drop in headline inflation signals some stability, persistent increases in food prices continue to put pressure on household incomes and the overall cost of living.
They attributed the sustained inflationary pressures to structural challenges such as insecurity, high transportation and logistics costs, expensive energy, rising fertiliser prices, supply chain disruptions and imported inflation.
Experts also argued that addressing inflation will require broader economic reforms focused on increasing food production, improving infrastructure, reducing production costs and strengthening domestic industries rather than relying solely on tighter monetary policies.
