Abuja, March 17, 2026 – Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped marginally to 15.06% in February from 15.1% in January 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in the latest edition of its the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released on Monday.
The report attributed the gradual slide in the inflation rate during the month to a modest slowdown in the pace of rising consumer prices compared to the previous month.
“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 11.21% lower than the rate recorded in February 2025 (26.27%)
“This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in February 2026 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2025).
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in February 2026 was 2.01%, which was 4.89% higher than the rate recorded in January 2026 (-2.88%),” the report said.
The NBS said the food inflation rate in February 2026 was 4.69 per cent, up by 10.70 per cent compared to January 2026 (-6.02 per cent).
It attributed the increase to the rise in the average prices of beans, carrots, Okazi leaf, cassava tuber, crayfish, millet flour, yam flour, snails, avenger (ogbono/apon) – dried ungrinded, cow peas, etc.
“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending February 2026 over the previous 12-month average was 19.08 per cent, which was 18.31 per cent points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2025 (37.40 per cent),” the report said.
