Market News

BY Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Ateeq Shariff

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s statistics agency reported headline consumer inflation of 15.15% year on year in December using a new method, saying its previous method would have caused an “artificial spike” in its calculations.

The National Bureau of Statistics gave November’s headline consumer inflation as 17.33% year on year under its new method.

The new method uses a 12-month reference period, where the average Consumer Price Index for the 12 months of 2024 is equated to 100, whereas previously the agency used a single-month reference period with December 2024 set to 100.

Partner Content

Standard Bank CIB Impact Series

View All

The Crucial Link in East Africa’s Manufacturing Ambitions

Fuelling Industrial Growth and Development in West Africa

Borderless ambitions: unlocking intra-African trade through agro-industrial investment

If it had not changed its method of calculating consumer inflation, the inflation rate reported on Thursday would have been “not in tandem with current inflationary realities,” the statistics bureau said in an explanatory note.

The agency presented new inflation readings for January to November 2025 using the new method, which showed inflation had now declined for nine straight months.

At its final meeting of 2025 the central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady, saying it wanted to see inflation fall further.

The central bank expects price pressures to continue moderating in 2026.