Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 15.15 per cent in December 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Thursday, the CPI index rose to 131.2 points in December 2025 from 130.5 points in November, indicating that prices continued to rise but at a significantly slower pace.
On a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate declined from 17.33 per cent in November 2025 and was markedly lower than the 34.80 per cent recorded in December 2024, reflecting a notable deceleration in headline inflation over the 12-month period.
The bureau said the December figures were influenced by a methodological change following the recent rebasing of the CPI, which now uses a 12-month index reference period with the average CPI for 2024 set at 100, rather than the earlier single-month base.
The NBS explained that this adjustment was necessary to avoid what it described as “an artificial spike in the December 2025 year-on-year inflation rate,” which could arise from relying on a single base month and not underlying price movements.
The bureau added that the methodological changes align with international best practice, including guidelines in the IMF Consumer Price Index Manual and the ECOWAS Harmonised CPI Manual.
On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 0.54 per cent in December 2025, down from 1.22 per cent in November, indicating further easing of short-term price increases.
Despite the moderation in headline inflation, the 12-month average inflation rate through December 2025 remained elevated at 23.01 per cent, underscoring the cumulative effect of price increases over the year.
A breakdown of the headline figure showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to overall inflation, accounting for 6.06 percentage points of the year-on-year rate.
Other significant contributors included: restaurants and accommodation services: 1.96 percentage points; transport: 1.62 percentage points; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels: 1.28 percentage points.
Food inflation, which has been a significant pressure point for households, recorded one of the sharpest improvements, falling to 10.84 per cent year-on-year in December 2025 from 39.84 per cent in December 2024. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation declined by 0.36 per cent, reversing the 1.13 per cent increase recorded in November.
The bureau attributed the decline in food inflation to falling average prices of items such as tomatoes, garri, eggs, potatoes, carrots, millet, vegetables, plantain, beans, wheat grain, ground pepper and fresh onions.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, also moderated.
The all-items less farm produce and energy index showed that core inflation eased to 18.63 per cent year-on-year in December 2025 from 29.28 per cent in December 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, core inflation slowed to 0.58 per cent, while the twelve-month average core inflation rate stood at 23.49 per cent.
Both urban and rural inflation figures showed significant moderation on a year-on-year basis.
Urban inflation fell to 14.85 per cent from 37.29 per cent a year earlier, but edged up slightly month-on-month to 0.99 per cent.
Rural inflation declined to 14.56 per cent from 32.47 per cent a year earlier and recorded a 0.55 per cent month-on-month decrease, compared with a 1.88 per cent increase in November.
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