The National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 23.71 percent in April 2025.
The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report for April 2025, which was released in Abuja on Thursday.
According to the report, the headline inflation showed a decrease of 0.52 percent compared to the 24.23 percent recorded in March 2025.
Furthermore, the report said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in April 2025 was 1.86 percent, which was 2.04 percent lower than the rate recorded in March 2025 at 3.90 percent.
The report said the increase in the headline index for April 2025 was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
It said the three major contributors to the headline inflation were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages at 9.49 percent, Restaurants, and Accommodation Services at 3.06 percent, and Transport at 2.53 percent.
The report showed the least contributors were Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics at 0.09 percent, Recreation, Sport, and Culture at 0.07 percent.
The report said the food inflation rate in April 2025 was 21.26 percent on a year-on-year basis.
It said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April was 2.06 percent, which decreased by 0.12 percent compared to the 2.18 percent recorded in March 2025.
The NBS said the decrease in food inflation was attributed to the reduction in average prices of items such as Maize (Corn) Flour, Wheat Grain, Okro Dried, Yam Flour, Soya Beans, Rice, Bambara beans, Brown Beans, etc.
The report said that “all items less farm produce and energy’’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 23.39 percent in April 2025 on a year-on-year basis.
“While on a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 1.34 percent in April, which decreased by 2.39 percent compared to the 3.73 percent recorded in March 2025 .”
The NBS said for the newly introduced indices, on a month-on-month basis, the Farm Produce rate remained at 2.64 percent in April, the same figure recorded in March.
Also, the Energy rate remained at 9.21 percent in April on a month-on-month basis, as well as Services at 3.44 percent and Goods at 3.98 percent.
The report said that on a year-on-year basis in April 2025, the urban inflation rate was 24.29 percent.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.18 in April 2025, which decreased by 2.78 percent compared to March at 3.96 percent.
The report said in April, the rural inflation rate was 22.83 percent on a year-on-year basis.
“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 3.56 percent in April, which decreased by 0.17 percent compared to March at 3.73 percent.”
On states’ profile analysis, the report showed that in April, all items’ inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Enugu at 35.98 percent, followed by Kebbi at 35.13 percent and Niger at 34.85 percent.
It said the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Ondo at 13.43 percent, followed by Cross River at 17.11 percent and Kwara at 17.28 percent.
The report, however, said in April 2025, all items inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was highest in Sokoto at 16.26 percent, followed by Nasarawa at 16.02 percent and Niger at 14.74 percent.
“Oyo at -6.45 percent, followed by Osun at -4.54 percent and Ondo at -3.44 percent, recorded the slowest rise in month-on-month inflation.”
The report said on a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Benue at 51.76 percent, followed by Ekiti at 34.05 percent and Kebbi at 33.82 percent.
“Ebonyi at 7.19 percent, followed by Adamawa at 9.52 percent and Ogun at 9.91 percent, recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.’’
The report, however, said on a month-on-month basis, food inflation was highest in Benue at 25.59 percent, followed by Ekiti at 16.73 percent and Yobe at 13.92 percent.
“Ebonyi at -14.43 percent, followed by Kaho at -11.37 percent and Ogun at -7.06 percent, recorded the slowest rise in inflation on a month-on-month basis.”
The NBS recently rebased the CPI, bringing the base year closer to the current period, from 2009 to 2024, with 2023 as the reference period for expenditure weights.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran, said the rebasing was designed to ensure that Nigeria’s economic indicators accurately reflect the current structure of the economy.
According to him, this is done by incorporating new and emerging sectors, updating consumption baskets, and refining data collection methods.
