Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Drops To 22.97% In May

Headline inflation rate eased to 22.97% in May 2025, relative to the April 2025 headline inflation rate of 23.71%, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a new data released on Monday.

The NBS data showed that on a month-on-month basis, food inflation rate in May 2025 was 2.19%, up by 0.12% compared to April 2025 (2.06%).

The increase was attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of yam, cassava tuber, maize, flour, sweet potatoes among others.

However, on a year-on-year basis, food inflation rate reduced to 21.14% in May 2025.

This was 19.52% points lower compared to the rate recorded in May 2024 (40.66%). “The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year,” NBS said.

The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending May 2025 over the previous 12-month average was 29.80%, which was 4.26% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in May 2024 (34.06%).

The May 2025 headline inflation rate decreased by 0.74% compared to
the April 2025 inflation rate. On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 10.98% lower than the rate recorded in May 2024 (33.95%).

It then shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in May 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., May 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in May 2025 was 1.53%, which was 0.33% lower than the rate recorded in April 2025 (1.86%).

This means that in May 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2025.

The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending May 2025 over the average for the previous twelve-month period was 27.55%, showing a 1.51% decrease compared to 29.06% recorded in May 2024.

Urban inflation rate was 23.14%, 13.20% points lower compared to the 36.34% recorded in May 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the Urban inflation rate was 1.40% in May 2025, up by 0.22% compared to April 2025 (1.18%).

The corresponding twelve-month average for the Urban inflation rate was 29.30% in May 2025. This was 1.77% points lower compared to the 31.07% reported in May 2024.

Also, inflation rate in the rural areas was 22.70% in the month under review. This was 9.12% points lower compared to the 31.82% recorded in May 2024.

On a month-on-month basis, the Rural inflation rate in May 2025 was 1.83%, down by 1.72% compared to April 2025 (3.56%).

The corresponding 12 month average for the Rural inflation rate in May 2025 was 25.56%.

This was 1.71% points lower compared to the 27.27% recorded in May 2024.