Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 18.02 per cent in September, down from 20.12 per cent in August 2025, marking the sixth consecutive month of slowdown.

The National Bureau of Statistics revealed this in its latest Consumer Price Index report released on Wednesday.

It also represents the first time in three years that inflation has fallen below the 20 per cent mark.

Analysts attribute the decline partly to the rebasing of the CPI, which has contributed to the downward trend and prompted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee to implement its first rate cut in years. The continued moderation aligns with economists’ projections of a sustained easing in inflation pressures.

The NBS reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate declined by 2.1 per cent in September 2025 compared to August.

Year-on-year, the rate was 14.68 percentage points lower than the 32.70 per cent recorded in September 2024, reflecting a marked slowdown in inflation over the past year.

“However, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in September 2025 was 0.72 per cent, which was 0.02 per cent lower than the rate recorded in August 2025 (0.74 per cent). 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,” disclosed part of the report.

NBS said that “The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year.

“However, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September 2025 was -1.57 per cent, down by 3.22 per cent compared to August 2025 (1.65 per cent). The decrease can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of maize (corn) grains, garri, beans, millet, potatoes, onions, eggs, tomatoes, fresh pepper, etc.”

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of farm produce and energy, stood at 19.53 per cent in September 2025, representing a 7.9 percentage point decline from 27.43 per cent in September 2024.

Month-on-month, the core inflation rate was 1.42 per cent, slightly lower than the 1.43 per cent recorded in August 2025. The average 12-month inflation rate for the period ending September 2025 was 22.39 per cent, down by 3.25 percentage points from 25.64 per cent in the corresponding period of 2024.

Urban inflation rose slightly month-on-month to 0.74 per cent in September from 0.49 per cent in August. Year-on-year, it stood at 17.50 per cent — 17.63 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in September 2024.

In contrast, rural inflation declined both year-on-year and month-on-month, settling at 18.26 per cent and 0.67 per cent respectively in September 2025.