The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 23.18 per cent in February 2025.
The NBS disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for February 2025, which was released in Abuja on Monday.
According to the report, the headline inflation showed a decrease of 1.30 per cent compared to the 24.48 per cent recorded in January 2025.
It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2025 was 8.52 per cent lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 at 31.70 per cent.
“This shows that the Headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis decreased in February 2025 compared to February 2024, though with a different base year of November 2009”
Furthermore, the report said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2025 was 2.04 per cent.
The report said the increase in the headline index for February 2025 on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
It said these increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel, education services, health, and clothing and footwear.
Others are information and communication, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services, furnishings, household equipment and maintenance, insurance and financial services, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, recreation and culture, and communication.
It said the percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months ending February 2025 over the average CPI for the previous 12 months was 30.09 per cent.
“This indicates a 3.91 per cent increase compared to 26.18 per cent recorded in February 2024.”
The report said the food inflation rate in February 2025 decreased to 23.51 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 14.41 per cent lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2024 at 37.92 per cent.
The NBS said the significant decline in the food inflation figure was technically due to the change in the base year, which is 2024.
However, the report said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in February 2025 was 1.67 per cent.
It said the decline in food inflation on a month-on-month basis can be attributed to the decline in the average prices of food items like Yam tuber, Potatoes, Soya beans, Flour of maize/cornmeal, Cassava, Bambara beans (Dried), among others.
The report said that “all items less farm produce and energy’’ or core inflation, which excluded the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 23.01 per cent in February 2025 on a year-on-year basis.
“This decreased by 2.12 per cent compared to 25.13 per cent recorded in February 2024.
“While on a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 2.52 per cent in February 2025.”
