Nigeria’s inflation rate decreased to 23.18% in February 2025 from previous highs. The decline follows a rebasing of the Consumer Price Index and shows substantial decreases in food inflation and urban inflation. However, month-to-month increases suggest ongoing inflation challenges in the economy.
In February 2025, Nigeria’s inflation rate decreased to 23.18% year-on-year, as announced by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. This reduction follows the NBS’s recent rebasing of the Consumer Price Index, which aimed to update consumption patterns in Nigeria’s economic context. Notably, inflation dropped significantly from 34.80% in December 2024 to 24.48% in January 2025, marking the first major decline in a decade.
The food inflation for February 2025 registered at 23.51%, a sharp decrease of 14.41% compared to the previous year’s figure of 37.92%. This drop largely results from the rebasing of the base year, which altered the calculation framework. However, month-on-month, food inflation showed a rise of 1.67%, with the overall headline inflation rate reflecting a monthly increase of 2.04%.
Urban inflation for February 2025 stood at 25.15%, which is 8.51 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in February 2024 (33.66%). A month-on-month comparison indicated a 2.40% rise in the urban inflation rate. The corresponding twelve-month average for urban inflation hit 32.22%, up by 4.28 percentage points when compared to its February 2024 level of 27.93%.
Rural inflation recorded at 19.89% year-on-year was a decrease of 10.09 percentage points from 29.99% in February 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was noted at 1.16%. The twelve-month average for rural inflation in February 2025 was 27.94%, an increase of 3.33 percentage points from 24.61% a year prior.
The spike in inflation over the past year followed President Bola Tinubu’s actions to eliminate costly subsidies and devalue the naira, leading to the inflation reaching 28-year highs. NBS highlighted that the consumer price index (CPI) accounts for diverse consumption expenditure patterns across states, thereby cautioning against interstate comparisons of consumption baskets due to potential misleading outcomes.
In summary, Nigeria’s inflation rates showed a notable decline in February 2025. A significant adjustment in the Consumer Price Index was a key factor in this shift, leading to lower food and urban inflation rates. Despite these positive trends, month-on-month increases indicate persistent inflationary pressures, particularly in rural areas. Overall, the economic landscape reflects the impact of recent government policies aimed at stabilizing the economy.
Original Source: allafrica.com
