Abuja — Nigeria’s annual inflation rate slowed slightly to 15.10% in January from 15.15% in December, the statistics office said on Monday, marking the tenth straight monthly decline. The data could encourage the central bank to cut interest rates next week, when it is scheduled to announce its first monetary policy decision of 2026.
At the previous release the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) adopted a revamped methodology that it said better reflects real-world prices.
The methodology uses a 12-month reference period where the average Consumer Price Index for the 12 months of 2024 is equated to 100, whereas previously the agency used a single-month reference period with December 2024 set to 100.
Food inflation, a key driver of the headline rate, stood at 8.89% year on year in January, down from 10.84% in December, the NBS said on Monday.
*Elisha Bala-Gbogbo & Shamsuddin Mohd; editing: Alexander Winning – Reuters
