(Ecofin Agency) - Food inflation in Nigeria dropped significantly to 23.51% in February 2025, down from 37.92% in the same month of 2024. This was revealed in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), released on March 17.

The reduction in food inflation can be partly explained by a slight decrease in prices of key food items, including yams, potatoes, soybeans, maize flour, cassava, and Bambara beans. This shift is considered a factor in the year-on-year decline. However, the NBS attributes the drop primarily to the "base year adjustment" in the CPI calculation.

Moreover, the overall inflation rate, excluding agricultural and energy products, also fell in February 2025, standing at 23.01%, compared to 25.13% a year earlier.

These updates follow Nigeria’s recent decision to adjust the base year for its GDP and CPI, changing it from 2009 to 2024. The move aims to align the inflation measure more closely with current consumption patterns and price changes, reflecting the realities of today’s economy more accurately.

Since taking office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu's administration has introduced several major reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira. These moves have had a considerable impact on household budgets, driving up inflation and pushing the cost of living higher across various sectors such as food, housing, water, and electricity. Despite the challenges, the government has introduced several measures to mitigate the effects of these changes on the population.

In December 2024, the overall inflation rate stood at 34.8%, slightly up from 34.6% the previous month. However, this is still considerably higher than the 23.18% inflation recorded in February 2025.