Nigeria food inflation rises even as headline inflation slows to 15.06%

Food prices in Nigeria accelerated in February, even as overall inflation slowed slightly, underscoring the persistent pressure on household budgets in Africa’s most populous country.

Data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed food inflation rose to 12.12% year-on-year in February, up sharply from 8.89% in January.

Food costs have long been the biggest driver of inflation in Nigeria, where millions of households spend a large share of their income on basic staples.

The increase came even as headline consumer inflation edged lower to 15.06% in February, compared with 15.10% recorded in January.

The marginal decline extends Nigeria’s disinflation streak to 11 consecutive months, though the slowdown in price growth has become increasingly gradual in recent months.

The latest data comes as policymakers try to balance efforts to stabilise prices while supporting economic recovery.

The Central Bank of Nigeria last month resumed monetary easing with a small interest rate cut, signalling confidence that inflation will continue to moderate after a prolonged period of aggressive tightening.

The central bank has said the delayed effects of earlier monetary tightening, improved exchange rate stability and stronger food supply are expected to help keep inflation on a downward path.

New inflation methodology

The February figures are part of a new framework for measuring consumer prices introduced by the statistics bureau earlier this year.

The revised methodology calculates inflation using a 12-month reference period, rather than the previous approach based on a single month.

Under the new system, the average Consumer Price Index for the 12 months of 2024 is set at 100, replacing the earlier method that used December 2024 as the base month.

Officials say the change better reflects real consumer spending patterns and provides a more stable benchmark for tracking price movements.

The January inflation report — the first published under the updated methodology — also showed a slight slowdown in headline inflation, which eased to 15.10% from 15.15% in December.