Do the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) numbers on the economy’s performance still count for much? No, if we are to take the Tinubu government’s spokesperson on matters economic seriously. Yet, the recently released consumer price index (CPI) report by the NBS for August contains a fistful of brownie points for the federal government’s management of the economy. With headline inflation falling ever so slightly from July’s 15.43 per cent (on an annualised basis) to 15.39 per cent in August and from 1.57 per cent to 0.71 per cent on a month-on-month measure, it would seem that the economy has entered broad disinflation territory. Core inflation, that is, after excluding volatile farm produce and energy prices, stood at 13 per cent year-on-year and fell by 0.06 per cent month-on-month.
NBS’ August 2026 numbers: Is inflation really trending down?, By Uddin Ifeanyi
