Nigeria’s headline inflation has dropped from 22.22 per cent in June 2025 to 21.88 per cent in July.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its July 2025 rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released yesterday, said on a year-on-year basis the headline inflation rate was 11.52 per cent lower than the 33.40 per cent inflation rate recorded in July 2024.

The NBS reports that, on a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate in July 2025 was 1.99 per cent, which was 0.31 per cent higher than the 1.68 per cent recorded in June 2025.

According to the NBS, in July, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in average price levels in June 2025.

The NBS reports that food inflation in July 2025 was 22.74 per cent on a year-on-year basis. It noted that this is 16.79 points lower than the 39.53 per cent recorded in July 2024. The NBS acknowledged that the significant decline in the rate of food inflation was technically due to the change in the base year.

It said, on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July was 3.12 per cent, down by 0.14 per cent compared to the June 2025 rate of 3.25 per cent.

The major contributors to the July headline inflation are food and non-alcoholic beverages, 8.75 per cent; restaurants and accommodation services, 2.83 per cent; and transport, 2.33 per cent.

In state-by-state analysis, the NBS said that the all-items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Borno State with 34.52 per cent, Niger, 27.18 per cent, and Benue with 25.73 per cent.

Zamfara recorded the lowest inflation rate of 12.75 per cent, followed by Katsina, 15.64 per cent.

In July 2025, food inflation was highest in Borno, 55.56 per cent; Osun, 29.10 per cent; and Ebonyi, 29.06 per cent.

It is obvious that the ongoing reforms by the government are having some positive effects on calming down inflation; however, there is still a need, according to analysts, for the government to review and adjust regulations that may be contributing to high costs in the services sector. They say revisiting pricing regulations in transportation and telecom could foster competition and lower prices.