Nigeria’s headline inflation rate for July fell to 21.8 per cent as compared to June, which stood at 22.22 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report indicates that the nation has experienced four consecutive drops in inflation for the year.
”Headline inflation rate in July 2025 was 1.99 per cent, which was 0.31 per cent higher than the rate recorded in June 2025 (1.68 per cent),” the report read.
It also revealed that July’s inflation rate eased to 3.12 per cent, as compared to the previous month
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products and energy, stood at 21.33 per cent in July 2025 on a year-on-year basis; a decline of 6.13 per cent when compared to the 27.47 per cent recorded in July 2024.
“The food inflation rate in July 2025 was 22.74 per cent on a year-on-year basis. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July 2025 was 3.12 per cent, down by 0.14 per cent compared to June 2025 (3.25 per cent),” part of the report read.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages, restaurants and accommodation services, and transport were the top contributors to the CPI in the month under review.
Stabilised Economy?
Despite improved statistics, many have criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, implemented when he took office in May 2023, for contributing to the soaring cost of living.
Frustrated citizens have organised several rallies to protest the hardships experienced by the middle class and ordinary people over the past two years, with the most notable being the hunger protests, also known as the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations, held in August 2024.
However, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), praised President Tinubu’s efforts to stabilise Nigeria’s economy during a meeting on Thursday.
Iweala said, “We think that the President and his team-and we just exchanged with him- have worked hard to stabilise the economy, and you cannot improve an economy unless it’s stable, so he has to be given the credit for the stability of the economy.
“The reforms have been in the right direction. What is needed next is growth. We now need to grow the economy, and we need to put in a social safety net, so that people who are feeling the pinch of the reforms can also have some support to be able to weather the hardship.
“So that’s the next step. How do we build a social safety net to help Nigerians cushion the hardship they are feeling, and then how do we grow the economy so we can create more jobs and put more money in people’s pockets, these are issues that we discussed with Mr. President.”
