The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has projected that Nigeria’s inflation rate will fall to 12.94 per cent in 2026, supported by expected reductions in fuel and food prices.
The projection is contained in the apex bank’s 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook released on Wednesday. According to the report, Africa’s most populous economy is forecast to expand by 4.49 per cent next year.
The CBN attributed the anticipated growth to sustained benefits from broad-based structural reforms and a gradually easing monetary policy environment.
“Headline inflation is projected to moderate to an estimated average of 12.94 per cent in 2026, driven largely by declining food prices and lower premium motor spirit (PMS) costs,” the bank stated.
The outlook follows recent reductions in fuel prices across the country, triggered by an intense price war in the downstream oil sector. Dangote Refinery, in a bid to outcompete fuel marketers, significantly cut its gantry price, pushing pump prices to between N739 and N910 per litre nationwide.
Meanwhile, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for November 2025 showed that Nigeria’s food inflation eased to 11.08 per cent, reinforcing expectations of a broader slowdown in inflationary pressures.
