By Elizabeth Adegbesan

Nigeria’s food inflation rate rose significantly by 2.79 percentage points to 20.31 percent in July from 17.52 percent in June, representing the fifth consecutive month’s rise since March 2026.

The 20 percent threshold in food inflation rate was last recorded in February 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this yesterday in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report for July 2026.

The report stated: “The Food inflation rate in July 2026 was 20.31 percent on a year-on-year basis and stood at 26.2 percent in the same month of the preceding year (July 2025).

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in July 2026 was 5.56 percent, up by 1.82 percent points from June 2026 (3.75 percent).”

The bureau noted that the increase in food inflation rate was due to change in the average prices crayfish, pepper (fresh), onions (fresh), carrots (fresh), rice, water yam, tomatoes (fresh), garri, plantain, beef, egg, guinea corn, ginger, plantain flour, etc.

The bureau added: “In July 2026, food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Adamawa (51.36 percent), Katsina (30.84 percent), and Zamfara (30.65 percent), while Borno (-0.31 percent), Nasarawa (6.88 percent) and Kebbi (12.50 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis.

“On a Month-on-Month basis, however, July 2026 Food inflation was highest in Adamawa (17.02 percent), Lagos (13.48 percent) and Borno (13.26 percent), while Jigawa (-3.68 percent), Kebbi (-3.67%), and Bauchi (-1.85 percent) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis.”

However, the headline inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month by 0.48 percentage point to 15.43 percent in July from 15.91 percent in June driven primarily by a deceleration in core inflation to 14.97 percent in July from 15.92 percent in June.

Likewise, MoM inflation moderated to 1.57 percent  in July, compared with 1.66 percent in June.

This means that in July 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in June 2026.