Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Drops to 14.45% in November, 8th Decline in 2025
- Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell to 14.45% year on year in November 2025, according to the NBS
- Monthly inflation rose to 1.22%, indicating faster price increases within the month despite annual moderation
- The data also showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributors to inflation
Oluwatobi Odeyinka is a business editor at Legit.ng, covering energy, the money market, technology and macroeconomic trends in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 14.45%in November 2025, the eighth decline in the year, following the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
November’s inflation rate was reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest CPI report published on Monday, December 15, 2025.
The statistics agency said headline inflation slowed to 14.45% year on year in November, down from 16.05% recorded in October 2025. The decline came despite continued increases in average prices during the month.
Source: Getty Images
The NBS explained that the CPI rose to 130.5 points in November from 128.9 points in October, representing a month-on-month increase of 1.6 points. On a monthly basis, headline inflation stood at 1.22%, higher than the 0.93% recorded in October, indicating faster price increases within the month.
According to the agency, the November headline inflation rate was 20.15% points lower than the 34.60% recorded in November 2024. The NBS attributed the sharp drop largely to the rebasing of the CPI, with the base year updated to 2024 from 2009.
Data in the report showed that the average CPI for the 12 months ending November 2025 rose by 20.41%, a significant slowdown from the 32.77% recorded in the same period of 2024.
NBS data shares insights on food inflation
Food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to have the largest impact on Nigeria’s headline inflation on a year-on-year basis, contributing 5.78%. Restaurants and accommodation services followed with 1.87% contribution, while transport added 1.54%.
Inflationary pressure from housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for 1.22% points. Education services contributed 0.90% points, while health services added 0.88% points to the overall inflation figure.
On a month-on-month basis, rising food and non-alcoholic beverage prices were again the main driver of inflation, contributing 0.49% points. Restaurants and accommodation services added 0.16 percentage points, while transport contributed 0.13% points.
Urban and rural inflation
Data disaggregated by location showed that inflation in urban areas slowed to 13.61% year on year in November 2025, a sharp decline from 37.10% recorded in the same month of 2024. On a monthly basis, urban inflation eased to 0.95% from 1.14% in October, while the 12-month average urban inflation rate moderated to 20.80%.
In rural areas, inflation remained higher at 15.15% year on year in November, though this represented a substantial drop from 32.27% a year earlier. However, rural inflation accelerated on a month-on-month basis, rising to 1.88% from 0.45% in October, indicating stronger price pressures in rural communities during the month.
Food inflation also showed a marked slowdown on an annual basis. According to the NBS, food inflation stood at 11.08% year on year in November 2025, down from 39.93% in November 2024. On a monthly basis, food prices increased by 1.13%, reversing the 0.37% decline recorded in October, largely due to higher prices of items such as dried tomatoes, cassava tubers, eggs, crayfish, egusi, oxtail and fresh onions.
The average food inflation rate for the 12 months ending November 2025 was reported at 19.68%, significantly lower than the 38.67% recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
Source: Getty Images
Core inflation
Core inflation, which excludes agricultural produce and energy costs, eased to 18.04% year on year in November, compared with 28.75% recorded in the same period last year. On a month-on-month basis, core inflation edged down slightly to 1.28%, while the 12-month average core inflation rate declined to 20.76%.
Further data showed that inflation in farm produce increased to 0.79% in November from zero in October. Energy inflation also rose to 1.08% from 0.50%, while services inflation climbed to 1.82%. Goods inflation similarly increased, reaching 0.79% during the month.
At the subnational level, Rivers State recorded the highest year-on-year all-items inflation rate at 17.78%, followed closely by Ogun at 17.65% and Ekiti at 16.77%. Plateau posted the lowest inflation rate at 9.13%, with Kebbi at 10.32% and Katsina at 10.60%.
On a month-on-month basis, Bayelsa recorded the steepest increase in inflation at 6.58%, followed by Gombe at 5.11% and Edo at 4.45%. In contrast, inflation declined in Plateau, Delta and Kaduna during the period.
In terms of food inflation, Kogi recorded the highest year-on-year rate at 17.83%, followed by Ogun at 16.52% and Rivers at 16.11%. The slowest increases in food prices were seen in Imo, Katsina and Akwa Ibom. Month-on-month food inflation was highest in Yobe, Katsina and Ondo, while declines were recorded in Imo, Nasarawa and Enugu.
The NBS advised caution when comparing inflation figures across states, noting that variations in consumption patterns and CPI weightings can make direct state-to-state comparisons misleading.
Inflation rate matches Tinubu’s target
The current inflation rate of 14.45% is below the target set by President Bola Tinubu in December 2024. Tinubu projected that his government would bring down the inflation rate from over 34% in 2024 to 15% by the end of 2025.
Legit.ng reported that the projection was made by the president when presenting the 2025 budget, named ‘Restoration Budget’, at the national assembly on December 18, 2024. The president also projected a drop in the exchange rate below N1,500.
While the exchange rate has stabilised below N1,500 and the targeted inflation rate has been achieved, economic analysts have observed that the gains are not reflected in the lives of ordinary Nigerians, as many still endure economic hardship.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
