ABUJA, Mar. 18 (AGCNewsNet) - Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 23.18% in February 2025, down from 24.48% in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday, signaling a moderation in price pressures.

The figure represents a 1.30% decline from January’s inflation rate, and on a year-on-year basis, February's inflation was 8.52 percentage points lower than the 31.70% recorded in February 2024.

Month-on-month, inflation stood at 2.04% in February, while the 12-month average Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 30.09%, up 3.91 percentage points from 26.18% in February 2024, the NBS said.

The agency noted that urban inflation stood at 25.15% year-on-year, down from 33.66% in February 2024. On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation was 2.40% in February 2025.

The 12-month average urban inflation rate was 32.22%, up 4.28 percentage points from 27.93% in February 2024. In rural areas, inflation was 19.89% year-on-year, down from 29.99% a year earlier, while month-on-month rural inflation stood at 1.16% in February 2025.

Despite the reported decline in inflation, some Nigerians have expressed skepticism, citing persistently high costs of essential goods across the country.

A report by Punch newspaper on Tuesday highlighted that despite the overall drop in inflation, three states—Edo, Enugu, and Sokoto—recorded inflation rates exceeding 30%, according to the latest CPI report.

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