Nigeria’s headline inflation has eased to 16.05% in October 2025, relative to the September 2025 headline inflation rate of 18.02%.
The Consumer Price Index for October 2025 released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday shows that the CPI rose to 128.9 in October 2025, reflecting a 1.2-point increase from the preceding month (127.7).
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Looking at the movement, the October 2025 Headline inflation rate showed a de-crease of 1.96% compared to the September 2025 Headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 17.82% lower than the rate recorded in October 2024 (33.88%). This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) decreased in October 2025 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., October 2024), though with a different base year, November 2009 = 100.
On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in October 2025 was 0.93%, which was 0.21% higher than the rate recorded in September 2025 (0.72%). This means that in October 2025, the rate of in-crease in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in September 2025.
The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending October 2025 over the aver-age for the previous twelve-month period was 22.02%, showing a 10.24% decrease compared to 32.26% recorded in October 2024.
On a year-on-year basis, in October 2025, the Urban inflation rate was 15.65%, showing 20.73% points lower compared to the 36.38% recorded in October 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the Ur-ban inflation rate was 1.14% in October 2025, up by 0.4% compared to September 2025 (0.74%). The corresponding twelve-month average for the Urban inflation rate was 22.68% in October 2025. This was 11.84% points lower compared to the 34.52% reported in October 2024.
The Rural inflation rate in October 2025 was 15.86% on a year-on-year basis. This was 15.73% points lower compared to the 31.59% recorded in October 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the Rural inflation rate in October 2025 was 0.45%, down by 0.22% compared to September 2025 (0.67%). The cor-responding twelve-month average for the Rural inflation rate in October 2025 was 20.81%. This was 9.42% points lower compared to the 30.24% recorded in October 2024.
The Food inflation rate in October 2025 was 13.12% on a year-on-year basis. This was 26.04% points lower compared to the rate recorded in October 2024 (39.16%). The significant decline in the annual food inflation figure is technically due to the change in the base year. However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in October 2025 was -0.37%, up by 1.21% compared to September 2025 (-1.57%). The increase can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Onions (Fresh), Fruits (Oranges, Pineapple), Shrimp, Groundnuts (Unshelled), Vegetables (Ugu, Okazi leaf), and Meat (Goat meat, Cow tail, Liver), among others.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending October 2025 over the previous twelve-month average was 21.96%, which was 16.16% points lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in October 2024 (38.12%).
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
