Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.69 per cent in April 2026, from 15.38 per cent recorded in March 2026, as the surge in food, transport, hospitality, and healthcare costs pushed up consumer prices nationwide.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index report released on Friday.
According to the report, “In April 2026, the Headline inflation rate rose to 15.69 per cent, up from 15.38 per cent in March 2026 and stood at 26.82 per cent in the same month of the preceding year (April 2025). Looking at the movement, the April 2026 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.31 per cent compared to the March 2026 Headline inflation rate.”
The bureau stated that the Consumer Price Index increased to 138.3 in April 2026, representing a 2.9-point rise from the 135.4 recorded in March.
Despite the increase in annual inflation, the report showed that the pace of monthly price growth slowed in April. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation stood at 2.13 per cent, lower than the 4.18 per cent recorded in March.
The NBS explained, “This means that in April 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in March 2026.”
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.40 percentage points of the overall rate.
