LAGOS — Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to 15.69% in April, marking a second consecutive monthly increase as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a slight uptick on Friday from the 15.38% recorded in March.
The current annual rate is substantially lower than the 26.82% seen in April 2025, yet the steady climb from February’s 15.06% low suggests a reversal of the disinflationary trend seen late last year.
Month-on-month figures provided a different perspective, with price growth slowing to 2.13% in April. This is a significant deceleration from the 4.18% monthly spike observed just one month earlier in March.
According to NBS Food inflation remains the primary pressure point, accelerating to 16.06% year-on-year. Analysts attribute this momentum to the pass-through effects of recent global fuel price shocks linked to ongoing Middle East conflicts.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and agricultural products, stood at 15.86% annually. Its monthly momentum slowed dramatically to 1.03%, suggesting that underlying inflationary pressures outside of food are beginning to stabilize.
Geographically, rural consumers faced higher annual costs at 16.36%, while urban centers saw an inflation rate of 15.40%. Both sectors saw a reduction in the speed of monthly price increases in April.
The report comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria prepares for its May Monetary Policy Committee meeting. Policymakers are currently balancing a benchmark interest rate of 26.5% against these rising annual figures.
Financial analysts expect the central bank to hold rates steady next week, as the deceleration in monthly momentum suggests previous aggressive tightening is still effectively curbing broader liquidity.
