Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Declines in April 2025: What This Means for Nigerians

 

Recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows a promising development for Nigeria’s economy, especially when it comes to inflation, which affects the cost of living for every Nigerian household. According to the report, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell to 23.71% in April 2025, down from the 24.23% recorded in March of the same year. This decrease might seem small at first glance — just a 0.52 percentage point drop — but it actually reflects a meaningful slowdown in how quickly prices are rising across the country.

To understand this better, let’s first explain what “headline inflation” means. Inflation refers to the overall increase in prices for goods and services in an economy over time. When inflation is high, people have to spend more money to buy the same things they used to buy for less. So, a decline in inflation suggests that prices are not rising as quickly as before, which can provide some relief to consumers.

The NBS report clearly states: “This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in April 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., April 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.” What this means is that when comparing April 2025 to April 2024, the rate at which prices increased has slowed down by nearly 10 percentage points—from 33.69% last year to 23.71% this year. The reference to the “different base year” simply means that the way inflation is measured was adjusted to a newer standard, but even accounting for this, the trend shows a clear easing of inflationary pressure.

Breaking down the numbers month-by-month, the monthly headline inflation for April 2025 was recorded at 1.86%. This is much lower than the 3.90% inflation rate seen in March 2025. The NBS explained this by saying, “This means that in April 2025, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in March 2025.” Simply put, prices are still increasing, but at a slower pace than the month before, which is good news for consumers who have been struggling with rapid price hikes.

A particularly important part of the inflation report is food inflation, because food prices have a direct and immediate impact on the daily lives of Nigerians. Food inflation measures how much prices for food items are increasing. In April 2025, food inflation was recorded at 21.26% on a year-on-year basis, which is a significant drop compared to the 40.53% recorded in April 2024. The NBS pointed out that “The significant decline in the food annual inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year.” This means part of the decline is because of the new measurement standards, but it also reflects real improvements in food prices.

Looking at the monthly food inflation, the rate in April was 2.06%, slightly lower than the 2.18% in March 2025. The drop in food inflation is attributed to falling average prices in essential staple foods like maize flour, wheat grain, okro, yam flour, soya beans, rice, Bambara beans, and brown beans. For millions of Nigerians who rely on these staples for daily meals, this slowdown in price increases is a welcome relief.

To give an even broader picture, the NBS concluded that, “The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending April 2025 over the previous twelve-month average was 31.43%, which was 1.31% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2024 (32.74%).” This means that over the past year, food prices still increased but at a slower overall rate than the year before.

In summary, while inflation remains high by historical standards, the latest figures show that the rate at which prices are rising in Nigeria is beginning to ease. Both headline inflation and food inflation have recorded significant declines compared to the previous year, and monthly data suggests that price increases are moderating. This could translate to some relief for everyday Nigerians, who have been grappling with rising costs on multiple fronts.

NaijaRush will continue to monitor these trends closely, as they have major implications for household budgets, business planning, and government policy moving forward.