Inflation Eased Down To 22.97% In May As Food Prices Moderate

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 10.98% lower than the rate recorded in May 2024 (33.95%).

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in May 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., May 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.

Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2025 was 1.53%, which was 0.33% lower than the rate recorded in April 2025 (1.86%).

This means that in May 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in April 2025.

According to NBS, food inflation rate in May 2025 was 21.14% on a year-on-year basis. On 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 Bureau attributed increase in food inflation to increase in prices of food items such as yam, avenger (Ogbono/Apon), cassava tuber, maize flour, fresh pepper, sweet potatoes, etc.

Similarly, 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, the core inflation rate was 1.10% in May 2025, down 0.24 percentage points from April 2025 (1.34%).

Inflation across the states varies.

The Bureau explained that, CPI for April 2025 for some states had been revised due to updated information.

This change, it said affected all states except for Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, and the FCT.

In the month under review ( May 2025)., all-item index 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 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.

Victoria Ibanga