Onome Amuge

Nigeria’s inflation rate slowed in September to 18.02 per cent, driven by seasonal harvests and a technical revision of the country’s inflation base year. Data released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the September headline inflation rate declined from 20.12 per cent in August, a 2.1-percentage-point drop, while year-on-year inflation was 14.68 points lower than the 32.70 per cent recorded in the same month of 2024.

The moderation came alongside a fall in food inflation, which dropped to 16.87 per cent in September from 21.87 per cent in August. The NBS attributed the decrease to falling prices of key staples such as maize, beans, millet, garri, potatoes, eggs, tomatoes and peppers. The agency also noted that the change was partly “technical,” following a revision of the inflation base year to November 2009 , which altered the weighting of food and non-food items.

According to the statistics office, food inflation contracted by 1.57 per cent month-on-month, indicating that supply outpaced demand in September. 

Inflation has been one of the thorniest challenges for the administration of President Bola Tinubu, whose market-oriented reforms, including fuel subsidy removal and naira liberalisation, triggered an increase in living costs last year. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has responded with a series of interest-rate hikes, bringing the benchmark rate to 24.75 per cent, one of the highest in Africa, in an effort to rein in price growth and attract foreign capital.

Regional data revealed wide disparities in food inflation, with Ekiti (28.68%), Rivers (24.18%), and Nasarawa (22.74%) recording the highest rates.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation rose 0.72 per cent, slightly lower than 0.74 per cent in August, indicating that while prices are still increasing, the pace of acceleration has slowed.