The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced it will publish two separate inflation figures for December 2025 to address distortions caused by recent changes to its Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology.
Okay News reports that the unusual step follows a Bloomberg report indicating that the headline inflation rate for December is projected to spike to 31.2 per cent, more than double the 14.5 per cent recorded in November.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, explained that one figure will reflect the underlying economic fundamentals, while the other will show the inflated outcome resulting from the rebasing methodology.
Ayo Andrew, Head of Price Statistics at the NBS, disclosed that the agency may also revise monthly inflation figures to correct distortions arising from the computational changes.
Adeniran described the artificial spike as an arithmetic issue rather than a reflection of Nigeria’s true economic conditions, noting that base effects are common in statistical adjustments.
He stressed that timely and regular rebasing would help prevent such discrepancies in the future.
The recent rebasing exercise, the first in 16 years, shifted the reference year to 2024 and expanded the inflation basket to 934 items from 740, while reweighting several categories.
Unlike previous exercises that used a single month as the base period, the NBS calculated the new base using the average of all months in 2024.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has already factored the rebasing and related computational issues into its three-year inflation forecast, maintaining its target of slowing inflation to around 13 per cent by 2026.
Nigeria’s inflation data are closely monitored by the CBN as it transitions toward a formal inflation-targeting monetary policy framework.
The NBS plans to release both figures on January 15, 2026, to ensure transparency and provide stakeholders with a clearer picture of price developments.
The move underscores the complexities involved in updating CPI methodologies in a dynamic economic environment and the importance of clear communication during such transitions.
 has announced it will publish two separate inflation figures for December 2025 to address distortions caused by recent changes to its Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology.){kind=link}