Nigeria recorded a notable slowdown in inflation in October 2025, with the headline inflation rate easing to 16.05%, according to the latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
The agency reported that October’s headline rate was “relative to the September 2025 headline inflation rate of 18.02%,” representing a 1.96% decline month-on-month.
The NBS noted a major improvement when compared with the previous year.
It stated that, “on a year-on-year basis, the Headline Nigeria’s inflation rate was 17.82% lower than the rate recorded in October 2024 (33.88%).”
This, the Bureau explained, indicates that inflation slowed considerably in October 2025 compared with the same month in 2024, even though the computation used a different base year of November 2009 = 100.
However, on a month-to-month comparison, Nigeria’s inflation pressures ticked up slightly. The report shows that “the Headline inflation rate in October 2025 was 0.93%, which was 0.21% higher than the rate recorded in September 2025 (0.72%).” This suggests that price levels still rose, but at a faster pace than in September.
For long-term trends, the NBS reported a sharp improvement in average inflation. The percentage change in the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the twelve months ending October 2025 was 22.02%, representing “a 10.24% decrease compared to 32.26% recorded in October 2024.”
In the breakdown of October figures, urban inflation recorded one of the steepest declines. The Bureau noted that “on a year-on-year basis, in October 2025, the Urban inflation rate was 15.65%, showing 20.73% points lower compared to the 36.38% recorded in October 2024.”
Despite the annual relief, month-on-month figures show renewed pressure, with the NBS reporting that “the Urban inflation rate was 1.14% in October 2025, up by 0.4% compared to September 2025 (0.74%).”
The twelve-month average also reflected easing inflation, standing at 22.68%, which the NBS described as “11.84% points lower compared to the 34.52% reported in October 2024.”
Rural areas experienced a similar trend of easing inflation. According to the NBS, “the Rural Nigeria’s inflation rate in October 2025 was 15.86% on a year-on-year basis,” a drop of 15.73 percentage points compared with 31.59% recorded in October 2024.
Month-on-month, price pressures in rural communities reduced, with the rate recorded at 0.45%, which the report notes was “down by 0.22% compared to September 2025 (0.67%).”
The twelve-month average rural inflation was 20.81%, marking a significant decline of “9.42% points lower compared to the 30.24% recorded in October 2024.”
The latest NBS report indicates a broad-based easing of inflation across urban and rural sectors, as well as notable relief in annual headline inflation.
However, the slight rise in month-to-month numbers suggests that short-term price pressures remain.
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