January inflation eased to 15.19%with lower food, fuel, gas prices

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said headline inflation rate eased to 15.10 per cent in January 2026 from the  15.15 per cent recorded in December 2025.

This was contained in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report of the NBS on yesterday.

The decline followed lower food, fuel and gas costs in the month under review.

Looking at the movement, the January 2026 Headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.05 per cent compared to the December 2025 Headline inflation rate.

On a year-on-year basis, according to the NBS report, the Headline inflation rate was 12.51 per cent lower than the rate recorded in January 2025 (27.61 per cent).

This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in January 2026 compared to the same month in the preceding year (that is January 2025), according to the report.

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in January 2026 was -2.88 per cent, which was 3.42 per cent lower than the rate recorded in December 2025 (0.54 per cent).

This means that in January 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2025.

NBS said the Food inflation rate in January 2026 was 8.89 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

This was 20.73 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in January 2025 (29.63 per cent).

According to the report, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2026 was -6.02 per cent, down by 5.66 per cent compared to December 2025 (-0.36 per cent).

NBS said the decrease can be attributed to the rate of decrease in the average prices of Water Yam, Eggs, Green Peas,

Groundnut Oil, Soya Beans, Palm Oil, Maize (Corn) Grains, Guinea Corn, Beans, Beef Meat, Melon (Egusi) Unshelled, Cassava Tuber, Cow Peas (White) etc.

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NBS said on a year-on-year basis, in January 2026, the Urban inflation rate was 15.36 per cent, which was 14.09 per cent points lower compared to the 29.45 per cent recorded in January 2025.

The report said on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was -2.72 per cent in January 2026, down by 3.71 per cent compared to December 2025 (0.99 per cent).

The corresponding twelve-month average for the Urban inflation rate, said NBS, was 22.30 per cent in January 2026.

This was 3.42 per cent points higher compared to the 18.88 per cent reported in January 2025.

NBS said the Rural inflation rate in January 2026 was 14.44 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

 This was 10.60 per cent points lower compared to the 25.04 per cent recorded in January 2025.

 NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the Rural inflation rate in January 2026 was -3.29 per cent, down by 2.74 per cent compared to December 2025 (-0.55 per cent).