Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.69 percent in April 2026, up from 15.38 percent recorded in March 2026, a development likely to reinforce expectations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will keep interest rates unchanged at its next policy meeting.
According to the latest CPI data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the figure, however, shows a decline compared to the same period in 2025, when inflation stood significantly higher at 26.82 percent, indicating a year-on-year easing despite recent monthly increases.
The report revealed that the April 2026 inflation rate represents a 0.31 percentage point increase from the previous month, underscoring renewed price pressures after a brief moderation in March.
On a month-on-month basis, however, inflation slowed sharply. The index stood at 2.13 percent in April 2026, which was 2.05 percent lower than the rate recorded in March 2026 (4.18 percent). This means that in April 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in March 2026
On the other hand, the food inflation rate in April 2026 was 16.06 percent on a year-on-year basis and stood at 24.68 percent in the same month of the preceding year (April 2025). On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2026 was 3.63 percent, down by 0.54 percentage points from March 2026 (4.17 percent).
“This can be attributed to the rate of change in the average prices of the following products: millet whole grain, yam flour, ginger (fresh), Beef, garri, yam tuber, pepper (fresh), crayfish, cassava tuber, beans, Irish potatoes, tomatoes (fresh), wheat grain (sold loose), soybeans, guinea corn, plantain, carrots (fresh), etc.”
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending April 2026, relative to the previous twelve-month average, was 17.55 percent, which was 17.05 percentage points lower than the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2025 (34.60 percent),” the statistical body added.