Inflation is 14.63%, but is your shop feeling it?

The National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s headline inflation for September 2026 was 14.63%, down from 15.39% in August. Month-on-month, prices rose by only 0.06%, which is a very small movement.

In simple words, prices are still going up compared with a year ago, but the speed has slowed down. Food is the part to watch. Food inflation was 19.59% year-on-year, still higher than the headline figure, though food prices actually fell 1.55% from August to September.

What the data does not show is how things look in your own market, your city or your trade. A national average can hide big differences, and one good month does not tell us what comes next.

Practical takeaway: do not rush to cut prices or raise them because of one headline number. Look at your own purchase prices from the last three months, note which items moved, and adjust only those. Keep a simple record so you can see where your margin is shrinking or growing.

Share your experience in the Community.

Questions:

In your city and trade, have your supplier prices gone up, come down or stayed the same since August?
If you sell food items, what have you noticed about market prices in the last few weeks?
How do you decide when to change your own selling prices?

Source: Voice of Nigeria, 15 October 2026; Technext24 report on the NBS September 2026 CPI release, 15 October 2026