Food, transport, housing and restaurant services accounted for about 72% of Nigeria’s inflation in July 2026.
An analysis of the latest Consumer Price Index report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the four expenditure categories contributed a combined 11.11 percentage points to Nigeria’s annual headline inflation rate of 15.43%.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the single largest contributor, accounting for 6.18 percentage points of the headline rate.
Restaurants and accommodation services followed with a contribution of 1.99 percentage points, while transport accounted for another 1.64 percentage points.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 1.30 percentage points.
Combined, the four categories contributed approximately 11.11 percentage points, equivalent to about 72% of the 15.43% headline inflation rate recorded during the period.
The concentration shows that much of Nigeria’s current inflation burden remains tied to expenses that households encounter regularly, including feeding, transportation, accommodation and energy-related costs.
Food alone represented about 40% of the headline inflation rate, making it by far the largest source of price pressure during the period.
The development comes even as Nigeria continues to record an overall slowdown in inflation.
Headline inflation eased to 15.43% in July from 15.91% in June, while month-on-month inflation moderated to 1.57% from 1.66%.
The longer-term trend has also improved considerably.
Nigeria’s 12-month average headline inflation declined to 16.89% in July 2026 from 29.10% in July 2025, representing a reduction of 12.21 percentage points over the period.
However, food prices showed renewed pressure during July.
Month-on-month food inflation accelerated to 5.56% from 3.75% in June, driven by increases across products including rice, garri, fresh pepper, onions, tomatoes, water yam, plantain, beef and eggs.
Annual food inflation stood at 20.31%, remaining substantially above the national headline inflation rate.
The data suggest that the improvement in Nigeria’s headline inflation has yet to translate evenly across the major expenses affecting household purchasing power.
While overall price growth is slowing, the concentration of inflation in food, transportation, housing and restaurant-related services means consumers remain exposed to elevated costs across several essential areas of spending.
For policymakers, the composition of inflation could be as important as the declining headline rate, particularly because sustained increases in food, transportation and housing costs can continue to weigh on household disposable income even during a broader period of disinflation.
