The most recent data that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published on Monday reveals that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate decreased for the fifth consecutive month, falling from 21.88% in July 2025 to 20.12% in August 2025.
In August, headline inflation was 0.74% month over month, which was moderate compared to prior months. According to the NBS, this indicates that the average price level increased at a slower rate in August 2025 than it did in July 2025.
The statement released by the NBS partly reads: “This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in August 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., August 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.”
Continuing, the NBS revealed that the average CPI for the twelve months ending in August 2025 decreased by 6.6%, or 24.66%, from the average for the preceding twelve months, which was 31.26% in August 2024.
However, the NBS report states that the urban inflation rate in August 2025 was 19.75%, 14.83% points lower than the 34.58% rate in August 2024. In comparison to July 2025, when it was 1.86 percent, the urban inflation rate decreased by 1.37% to 0.49% in August 2025. In August 2025, the urban inflation rate’s corresponding twelve-month average was 25.81%. Compared to the 33.44% recorded in August 2024, this was 7.63% points lower.
It is expedited to know that compared to the previous year, the rural inflation rate in August 2025 was 20.28%. This was 9.67% points lower than the 29.95% recorded in August 2024, the NBS reported.
August 2025’s rural inflation rate was 1.38% month over month, which was 0.92% lower than July 2025’s rate of 2.30%. In August 2025, the Rural Inflation Rate’s corresponding 12-month average was 23.07%. Compared to the 29.32% recorded in August 2024, this was 6.25% points lower.
Futhering, in August 2025, the annual rate of food inflation was 21.87%. In comparison to the rate of 37.52% in August 2024, this was 15.65% points lower. According to the NBS, the change in the base year is technically to blame for the notable drop in the annual food inflation figure.
NBS had this to say: “On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in August 2025 was 1.65%, down by 1.47% compared to July 2025 (3.12%).”
According to NBS, the decline is caused by the rate at which the average prices of products such as millet, soy milk, semolina, sorghum, guinea corn flour, maize flour sold loose, and imported and local rice have decreased. The average annual rate of change in food prices for the twelve months ending in August 2025 was 25.75% over the previous twelve-month average. This was 11.24% lower than the average annual rate of change in August 2024, which was 36.99%.
In August 2025, core inflation, which does not include the prices of energy and volatile agricultural products, was 20.33% year over year, according to the NBS report. This represents a 7.25% decrease from the 27.58% recorded in August 2024. The Core Inflation rate increased by 0.46% from July 2025, when it was 0.97%, to 1.43% in August 2025, a month-over-month increase.
BrandSpur Nigeria news reports that August 2025 saw an average twelve-month annual inflation rate of 23.04%, 2.14% points lower than the August 2024 rate of 25.18%.
