Nigeria’s headline inflation rate edged down to 14.63 per cent in September, from 15.39 per cent a month earlier, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday, as the pace of increase in price levels continues to slow in Africa’s most populous country.

The development extends the downward trend in annual consumer inflation recorded in recent months, with inflation dropping marginally to 15.39 per cent in August from 15.43 per cent in July.

Food inflation stood at 19.59 per cent year-on-year in September, slightly higher than the 19.57 per cent recorded in August, but lower than the 20.16 per cent reported in September 2025.

Food accounts for a substantial share of household expenditure, particularly among lower-income households.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year in September, down from 13.29 per cent in August and 22.11 per cent in September 2025.

The annual figure indicates a continued slowdown in price increases outside the more volatile food and energy components.

The divergence between the annual and monthly figures suggests that, although underlying inflation has moderated considerably over the past year, some price pressures persisted during September.

Despite the slowdown in inflationary pressures, Nigeria continues to face a cost-of-living crisis, principally on account of elevated food prices and energy costs, which have hammered the disposable income of many households.

The drop in living standards has been fuelled by tough economic reforms introduced by the current administration, including the removal of fuel subsidies, devaluation of the naira and a prolonged hawkish monetary policy stance.

The statistics office’s data also reflected differences between inflation in urban and rural areas.

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Urban inflation stood at 15.64 per cent year-on-year in September, down from 20.63 per cent in the corresponding month of 2025. Rural inflation was lower at 12.46 per cent year-on-year, compared with 21.06 per cent in September 2025.

What the figures mean

The September data point to a further slowdown in Nigeria’s inflation rate, with annual headline inflation falling for another month.

A fall in annual inflation means that prices are rising more slowly than they did over the corresponding period a year earlier. A negative monthly rate, such as the September food inflation figure, means that average prices in the measured basket declined compared with the previous month.

With annual food inflation still at 19.59 per cent, the September figures show that the pace of food price increases has moderated over the past year, while the average cost of food remains higher than it was a year ago.

SK Hynix appears to be navigating choppy U.S.-China chipmaking waters. The company’s flash memory unit, Solidigm, is seeking U.S. approval to send American chipmaking equipment to its factory in Dalian, China, as a condition to continue building a semiconductor factory in the U.S., Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.

Solidigm has been reportedly chalking up plans to build a NAND flash memory chip factory in the U.S. and is considering upstate New York as a potential location for the facility.

NAND flash chips are primarily used in solid-state storage drives, which are employed in everything from laptops and smartphones to AI data centers. But the global component shortage, thanks to skyrocketing demand for AI data centers, has driven up prices for everything that goes into data centers, including high-speed RAM chips and SSDs. Research firm TrendForce expects NAND prices to rise 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter.

Reuters cited its sources as saying that Solidigm wants to install more chipmaking equipment in spare space at SK Hynix’s Dalian factory in China to boost NAND chip production.

SK Hynix told TechCrunch it is not seeking to expand capacity at its Dalian Mod B facility, which was completed in 2023. The chip giant added that the equipment installation is being carried out in consultation with and under authorization from the U.S. government.

Washington first imposed sweeping restrictions on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment exports to China in October 2022, citing national security concerns, and further tightened the rules in 2023. Then in September 2025, the Trump administration revoked special export exemptions for certain SK Hynix, Samsung, and Intel facilities in China. The U.S. has since granted an annual license to Samsung and SK Hynix for sending chipmaking equipment to their plants in China.

The U.S. has also been pushing foreign chipmakers to build and expand their manufacturing facilities in America. In July, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he wanted Samsung and SK Hynix to build chip plants in the country and that he was in talks with both companies.

Solidigm is said to be preparing for a 2027 U.S. IPO that could raise around $10 billion and value it at up to $100 billion.