Nigeria’s purchasing power has not fully recovered despite the easing of headline inflation to 15.15 per cent in December 2025, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said, warning that households and businesses continue to feel the lingering effects of past price shocks.

In a phone interview with Sunday PUNCH, the President of the LCCI, Leye Kupoluyi, stated that the latest inflation data signalled a clear slowdown in inflationary momentum but did not amount to a full resolution of Nigeria’s inflation challenges.

He cautioned that inflation remained structurally high when viewed over a longer period. He said the 12-month average headline inflation stood at 23.01 per cent, with core inflation at 23.49 per cent, urban inflation at 23.46 per cent, and rural inflation at 21.93 per cent.

He said, “The elevated averages reflect the cumulative impact of prolonged inflation over the year, indicating that purchasing power has not fully recovered and that past price shocks continue to weigh on households and businesses.”

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, headline inflation eased to 15.15 per cent year on year in December 2025, down from 17.33 per cent in November 2025 and sharply lower than 34.80 per cent recorded in December 2024.

Month-on-month inflation also declined to 0.54 per cent from 1.22 per cent, indicating that prices were still rising, but at a much slower pace.

Kupoluyi affirmed that the economy was cooling after a period of acute overheating, but remained fragile, with uneven easing of price pressures across sectors.

He said the moderation confirmed a shift from rapid inflation to gradual disinflation rather than outright price declines. “These figures indicate that prices are still increasing, but at a significantly slower rate, reflecting improving economic dynamics rather than a sudden economic transformation,” the LCCI president explained.

He described the sharp decline in food inflation as the most economically meaningful development, noting that food inflation fell to 10.84 per cent year on year from 39.84 per cent.

Kupoluyi noted that falling prices of staples such as tomatoes, garri, beans, grains, onions, and vegetables had eased pressure on household budgets, especially as food contributed 6.06 percentage points to headline inflation. He added that while the data justified measured optimism, it also called for caution in policymaking.

Kupoluyi warned against premature policy loosening, citing elevated average inflation and rising energy costs, and urged sustained focus on food supply chains, energy reforms, and transport efficiency to consolidate disinflation gains.

Notably, the LCCI defended the NBS’s revised Consumer Price Index methodology following the rebasing exercise. Kupoluyi described it as statistically sound and globally aligned.

He said the decision to compute year-on-year inflation using a twelve-month average base avoided artificial spikes that could have distorted economic analysis and policy responses.

He explained that concerns about revisions to earlier figures were understandable but unavoidable in a rebasing exercise, adding that the NBS had improved transparency by clearly distinguishing base effects from underlying economic fundamentals.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH had earlier reported that the National Association of Small-Scale Industrialists welcomed the moderation in December inflation, linking it to government intervention in food production and improvements in the energy sector.

The NASSI Vice President, Segun Kuti-George, said the decline reflected real market changes, citing lower prices of staple foods and improved fuel availability, which helped reduce transportation and production costs.

Kuti-George also pointed to developments in the energy sector as a key factor behind the easing of inflation. He said fuel prices declined in December, supported by improved availability of petroleum products, which helped to lower transportation and production costs across the economy.

“We had a drop in the price of fuel and other petroleum products, and we also had availability. That made a major difference, because normally during December, scarcity pushes prices up, but this time it was the opposite,” he noted.