Breaking: Inflation Slips to 15.39% as Energy Costs Curb Slowdown

By Samuel Akpan

Nigeria’s consumer prices cooled only a whisker in August, with headline inflation easing to 15.39 per cent as energy and logistics costs blunted a faster drop.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBD) put the year-on-year rate at 15.39 per cent, down from 15.43 per cent in July, confirming another modest retreat in the cost of living.

The 0.04 percentage-point decline extends the recent slowdown, but the movement is so slim that households will barely feel the difference at the market.

Analysts said the disinflation trend is still intact, yet the pace has moderated, with energy and logistics pressures keeping prices from falling more sharply.

Those cost pressures, they argue, are now the main drag on a faster cooling of inflation after earlier months of more noticeable relief.

August’s 15.39 per cent reading therefore marks continuity rather than a breakthrough: prices are rising more slowly than in July, but not by much.

The figures leave policymakers and consumers with the same picture — inflation is easing at the edges, while energy and transport costs keep the descent shallow.

Details shortly…