Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has applauded the steady decline in Nigeria’s inflation rate, which has moderated for five consecutive months. This follows the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which shows headline inflation easing to 20.12 per cent in August 2025, down from 21.88 per cent in July.
This was as the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) projected that headline inflation will further drop to 17 per cent by December 2025.
Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, stated that this sustained progress presents a crucial opportunity for policymakers, particularly the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to re-evaluate its prolonged tight monetary policy stance.
While the decline in inflation is commendable, he noted, its full benefits will remain muted unless the MPC strategically begins to reduce the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).
“Lower interest rates will not only stimulate enterprise competitiveness, but also boost access to credit, investment and job creation, which are critical levers for inclusive growth,” Oyerinde said.
He, however, expressed concern that despite a marginal decline, food inflation remains high at 21.87 per cent, continuing to exert immense pressure on households.
“For Nigerians to truly feel the impact of macroeconomic improvements, the decline in staple prices must translate into real relief for families,” he stressed.
The NECA DG highlighted that for businesses, high operating costs – driven by raw materials, energy, and logistics – remain a threat to sustainability. For individuals, persistent inflation continues to erode disposable income and consumer demand, undermining growth and hindering meaningful job creation.
He said the government must complement monetary easing with broader interventions, including further strengthening the exchange rate to curb imported inflation, investing heavily in agriculture by securing farming communities and expanding mechanisation, and addressing structural bottlenecks in energy, transport and regulation.
The current inflation trend, he added, presents a compelling case for the MPC to ease its tight stance. “It is time to balance price stability with deliberate growth stimulation, so that enterprises can thrive, jobs can be created, and Nigerians can experience tangible relief from the cost-of-living crisis.”
IMPI also expects the MPC to reduce the MPR at its next meeting, in response to five consecutive month-on-month drops in inflation.
In the latest policy statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, the think-tank explained that the country is experiencing a lengthy period of disinflation.
It reads: “We have observed how some critics have dismissed the decline in the inflation rate as being of no consequence to the people, insisting dismissively that prices have not changed in any way to affect the mass of the Nigerian people.
”We consider this an expression of the intention not to acknowledge the federal administration’s positive strides. Empirically speaking, the Nigerian economy is now in a disinflationary dispensation. Disinflation is a temporary slowing of the pace of price inflation and is used to describe instances when the inflation rate has reduced marginally over the short term.”
