Food, Energy Prices Push Inflation Rate to 15.69% in April – NBS

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 15.69 per cent in April 2026, up from 15.38 per cent recorded in March, driven largely by rising food, transport, hospitality and healthcare costs across the country.

The latest figures were released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics in its Consumer Price Index report.

According to the report, the inflation rate rose by 0.31 percentage points compared to March 2026, although it remained significantly lower than the 26.82 per cent recorded in April 2025.

The bureau also disclosed that the Consumer Price Index increased to 138.3 points in April from 135.4 points in March, reflecting a 2.9-point increase in overall consumer prices.

Despite the rise in annual inflation, monthly inflationary pressure eased during the review period. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation slowed to 2.13 per cent in April, compared to 4.18 per cent recorded in March.

The NBS explained that the slower monthly increase indicated that the pace of price growth in April was lower than in the preceding month.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the biggest contributors to inflation, accounting for 6.40 percentage points of the overall rate. Restaurants and accommodation services contributed 3.56 percentage points, while transport added 1.70 percentage points.

Healthcare costs contributed 1.21 percentage points, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for 0.77 percentage points.

Other contributors included personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 0.64 percentage points, education services at 0.49 percentage points, clothing and footwear at 0.32 percentage points, and information and communication at 0.28 percentage points.

The report further showed that the average CPI for the 12 months ending April 2026 stood at 19.16 per cent, slightly below the 19.33 per cent recorded in April 2025.

Urban inflation was recorded at 15.40 per cent year-on-year, while monthly urban inflation slowed to 1.86 per cent from 3.16 per cent in March.

In rural areas, year-on-year inflation stood higher at 16.36 per cent, although monthly rural inflation eased to 2.80 per cent from 6.73 per cent in the previous month.

Food inflation also increased on a yearly basis, reaching 16.06 per cent in April 2026, compared to 24.68 per cent in April 2025. However, monthly food inflation slowed to 3.63 per cent from 4.17 per cent in March.

The NBS attributed the increase in food prices to rising costs of staple items such as millet, yam flour, fresh ginger, beef, garri, yam tubers, fresh pepper, crayfish, cassava tubers, beans, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, wheat grain, soybeans, guinea corn, plantain and carrots.

The bureau added that the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending April 2026 stood at 17.55 per cent, significantly lower than the 34.60 per cent recorded in April 2025.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 15.86 per cent year-on-year in April, compared to 26.05 per cent in April 2025. On a monthly basis, core inflation slowed sharply to 1.03 per cent from 4.03 per cent in March.

Further analysis showed that farm produce inflation rose by 19.8 per cent year-on-year and six per cent month-on-month, while energy inflation increased by 4.6 per cent annually and eight per cent monthly.

Services inflation stood at 16.7 per cent year-on-year and 2.1 per cent month-on-month, while goods inflation was recorded at 15.7 per cent annually and 3.2 per cent monthly. Imported food inflation stood at 10.5 per cent year-on-year and 4.4 per cent month-on-month.

At the state level, Sokoto recorded the highest year-on-year all-items inflation rate at 25.74 per cent, followed by Bauchi at 22.52 per cent and Zamfara at 22.03 per cent.

Edo recorded the slowest rise in inflation at 5.91 per cent, followed by Borno at 6.72 per cent and Jigawa at 7.04 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, Niger State posted the highest increase in inflation at 5.66 per cent, followed by Kano at 4.50 per cent and Plateau at 4.39 per cent. Bayelsa recorded the slowest increase at 0.64 per cent, while Enugu and Rivers recorded 0.98 per cent and 1.02 per cent respectively.

For food inflation, Enugu recorded the highest year-on-year increase at 32.67 per cent, followed by Kwara at 30.77 per cent and Adamawa at 30.14 per cent. Borno recorded the slowest food inflation at 1.67 per cent, followed by Jigawa at 6.17 per cent and Taraba at 7.19 per cent.

The NBS cautioned that interstate inflation comparisons should be interpreted carefully due to variations in consumption patterns and household expenditure across states.

Meanwhile, the Financial Market Dealers Association had projected that headline inflation would rise to 16.42 per cent in April 2026 amid sustained pressure from food prices, higher energy costs and elevated global commodity prices.

However, the latest NBS figures showed that inflation settled below the projected level, despite continued pressure from food and energy prices.

By PRNigeria