Food inflation rate rises 5th consecutive month to 20.31%

By Elizabeth Adegbesan, Nigeria’s food inflation rate rose significantly by 2.79 percentage points to 20.31 percent in July 2026, from 17.52 percent in June. This represents the fifth consecutive month’s rise since March 2026. The 20 percent threshold in food inflation was last recorded in February 2021. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report for July 2026. The report states that the food inflation rate in July 2026 was 20.31 percent year-on-year and 26.2 percent compared to July 2025. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate was 5.56 percent, up by 1.82 percentage points from June 2026 (3.75 percent). The increase was attributed to rising prices of items like crayfish, pepper, onions, carrots, rice, water yam, tomatoes, garri, plantain, beef, eggs, guinea corn, ginger, and plantain flour. The bureau further noted regional variations: highest food inflation on a year-on-year basis was in Adamawa (51.36 percent), Katsina (30.84 percent), and Zamfara (30.65 percent), while Borno (-0.31 percent), Nasarawa (6.88 percent), and Kebbi (12.50 percent) recorded slower rises. On a month-on-month basis, Adamawa (17.02 percent), Lagos (13.48 percent), and Borno (13.26 percent) had the highest inflation, whereas Jigawa (-3.68 percent), Kebbi (-3.67 percent), and Bauchi (-1.85 percent) saw the slowest increases. However, the headline inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month, decreasing by 0.48 percentage points to 15.43 percent in July from 15.91 percent in June. This was driven by a deceleration in core inflation to 14.97 percent in July from 15.92 percent in June. Meanwhile, month-on-month inflation moderated to 1.57 percent in July, compared to 1.66 percent in June, indicating a slower rate of price increase in July 2026 than in June 2026.