NIGERIA’S headline inflation dropped to 22.97 per cent in May relative to 23.71 per cent in April, latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.

The statistics office stated this in its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday, June 16.

The movement of the inflationary pressure indicates that headline inflation decreased 0.74 per cent compared to April 2025

It marks the second consecutive month of decline in the inflation rate since the NBS rebased its CPI.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 10.98 per cent lower than the rate of 33.95 per cent reported by the NBS in May 2024.

The data also shows moderation in food inflation to 21.14 per cent in May from 21.26 per cent in April.

This means that on a year-on-year basis, food inflation was 19.52 per cent lower than the 40.66 per cent in May 2024.

“The significant decline in the annual food inflation
figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” NBS noted.

NBS further puts the food inflation rate on a month-on-month basis at 2.19 per cent, compared to 2.06 per cent in April.

“The increase can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of Yam, Avenger (Ogbono/Apon), Cassava Tuber, and Maize
Flour, Fresh Pepper, Sweet Potatoes, etc,” it said.

It revealed further that food inflation was highest in Borno at 64.36 per cent, Bayelsa at 39.85 per cent and Taraba at 38.58 per cent but slowest in Katsina at 6.90 per cent,  Rivers at 9.18 per cent, and Kwara at 11.31 per cent.

The ICIR reports that the moderation in inflation rates since this year arises as a result of the rebasing exercise from the NBS, which has yet to reflect the surging prices of food items in the marketplace.

Early this year, the statistics office initiated the rebasing of the CPI by including more items in the inflation basket and comparing prices in 2025 with prices in 2024 instead of 2009.

According to the Statistician General and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Adeyemi Adeniran, the rebasing was done to absorb the new ministries that the new government created, upgrade the CPI basket, and change the methodology of CPI and gross domestic product (GDP).

With the rebasing, the NBS believes that the rebased CPI reflects the current inflationary pressure and consumption pattern of people living in the country; however, the drop in inflation does not mean a decline in the general price level as costs of food items and others are seen increasing.