•Inflation easing should be consolidated through decisive, well-targeted policy action
—CPPE •At 18.02%, inflation rate is still far from the CBN long-run target of 9%—Prof. Uwaleke
By Peter Egwuatu, Assistant Business Editor & Elizabeth Adegbesan
Nigeria’s inflation rate eased by 2.1 percentage point to 18.02 percent in September 2025 from 20.12 percent in August 2025.
This is the first time in three years that the nation’s inflation rate fell below 20 percent. The rate also represents the 6th consecutive month decline since April 2025.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this Wednesday, in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, and Report for September 2025.
Meanwhile, economy experts and analysts have commended the easing, though noted that the consumer purchasing power is still on the decline, and that the rate is still far from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s long run target of 9 %.
The NBS report stated: “In September 2025, the Headline inflation rate eased to 18.02 percent relative to the August 2025 headline inflation rate of 20.12 percent.
“Looking at the movement, the September 2025 Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 2.1 percent compared to the August 2025 headline inflation rate.
“In addition, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 14.68% lower than the rate recorded in September 2024 (32.7 percent).
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in
September 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., September 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in September 2025 was 0.72 percent, which was 0.02 percent lower than the rate recorded in August 2025 (0.74 percent).
“This means that in September 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2025.”
Food inflation also declined by 5.0 percentage points to 16.87 percent in September 21.87 percent in August 2025 as a result of decline in the average prices of maize (corn) grains, garri, beans, millet, potatoes, onions, eggs, tomatoes, fresh pepper etc.
“The food inflation rate in September 2025 was 16.87 percent on a year-on-year basis.
“This was 20.9 percent points lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2024 (37.77 percent).
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September 2025 was -1.57 percent, down by 3.22 percent compared to August 2025 (1.65 percent.
According to NBS report, food inflation on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis was highest in Ekiti (28.68%), Rivers (24.18%), Nasarawa (22.74%) while Bauchi (2.81 percent), Niger (8.38 percent), and Anambra (8.41 percent) had the slowest rise in food inflation YoY .
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