The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the nation’s inflation rate eased to 22.97%, relative to the April 2025 headline inflation rate of 23.71%.
NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday in Abuja.
The decline which was recorded for the second month in a row was 0.74% from the rate recorded in April 2025.
The Bureau said at the divisional level, the three major contributors to the headline inflation were Food and non-alcoholic Beverages: 9.20%, Restaurants & Accommodation Services: 2.97%, and Transport: 2.45%; while the least contributors were Recreation, Sport, and Culture: 0.07%, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics: 0.09%, and Insurance and Financial Services: 0.11.
On a month-on-month basis, NBS said the headline inflation rate in May 2025 was 1.53%, which was 0.33% lower than the rate recorded in April 2025 (1.86%).
It said the food inflation rate in May 2025 was 21.14% on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in May 2025 was 2.19%, which rose by 0.13% compared to April 2025 (2.06%).
The increase was attributed to the rate of increase in average prices of items such as Yam, Avenger (Ogbono/Apon), Cassava Tuber, Maize Flour, Fresh Pepper, Sweet Potatoes, etc.
The NBS report also disclosed that core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 22.28% in May 2025 on a year-on-year basis.
On a month-on-month basis, it said the core inflation rate was 1.10% in May 2025, down 0.24 percentage points from April 2025 (1.34%).
Meanwhile, the inflation rate of the newly introduced sub-indices for May 2025 shows that both Farm Produce and Goods stood at 22.38% and 9.39% compared to April 2025, which were 0.95% and 1.89% respectively.
Conversely, it said Services and Energy stood at 1.79% and -0.43% compared to 2.20% and 13.6% recorded in the previous month, respectively.
Urban and Rural Inflation Rates:
On a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in May 2025 was 23.14%. 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 rural inflation rate in May 2025 was 22.70% on a year-on-year basis. 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%)
State-Level Analyses:
Please note that the State CPI for April 2025 for some states has been revised due to updated information. This change affected all states except for Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, and the FCT. The revision, however, does not affect the National CPI for April 2025.
All Items Inflation
The all-item index for May 2025, on a year-on-year basis, was highest in Borno (38.93%), Niger (34.97%), and Plateau (32.35%), while it recorded the lowest in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis in Katsina (16.25%), Adamawa (18.20%), Delta (18.41%). On a month-on-month basis, May 2025 recorded the highest increases in Bayelsa (9.11%), Bauchi (4.85%), and Borno (4.42%), while it recorded declines in Kaduna (-6.75%), Jigawa (-4.40%), and Edo (-2.94%).
Food Inflation
State-level analyses of the food index in May 2025 show that food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Borno (64.36%), Bayelsa (39.85%), Taraba (38.58%); while it recorded the slowest rise in Katsina (6.90%), Rivers (9.18%), and Kwara (11.31%). On a month-on-month basis, in May 2025 food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (12.68%), Cross River (11.15%), and Anambra (9.10%); while states like Katsina (-5.42%), Jigawa (-4.02%) and Kaduna (-3.27%) recorded declines in food inflation on a month-on-month basis.
