Nigerians earning below N70,000 a month are bearing the heaviest inflation pressure, with 80 per cent of respondents in the income group saying inflation was high in September, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest Inflation Expectations Survey.
The finding comes as the broader perception of inflation worsened during the month, with the overall Inflation Perception Index rising to 43.1 points from 39.6 points in August, even though respondents expected inflationary pressures to moderate over the coming months.
The CBN survey shows a clear income divide in how Nigerians are experiencing the country’s prolonged cost pressures.
Among households earning below N70,000 monthly, 80 per cent perceived inflation as high, compared with 78.1 per cent among those earning between N70,000 and N150,000.
The proportion fell to 73.8 per cent for respondents earning N150,001 to N250,000 and 66.2 per cent among those earning N250,001 to N350,000.
It declined further to 59.1 per cent among those earning N350,001 to N450,000. This shows that the improvement in headline inflation has not been experienced evenly across household income groups.
The September result is a sharp deterioration in inflation perception among the lowest-income respondents compared with August.
The CBN’s monthly dataset shows that the inflation perception index for households earning below N70,000 rose from 45.1 in August to 55.9 in September.
Within the September figure, 38.2 per cent described inflation as very high and another 41.8 per cent as high, producing the 80 per cent combined share reported by the CBN.
This compares with the N350,001-N450,000 group, where 13.6 per cent reported very high inflation and 45.5 per cent high inflation.
The gap is even more visible when the lowest and highest income categories are compared.
The survey recorded 80 per cent high-inflation perception among those earning below N70,000, against 64.7 per cent among respondents earning N450,000 and above.
The survey does not directly attribute the income disparity to food prices alone.
Instead, respondents identified several broader drivers of inflation, including energy, interest rates, exchange rates and insecurity.
For households, interest rates ranked as the largest inflation driver in September with a score of 65.2 per cent, followed by transportation at 58.1 per cent, energy at 57.1 per cent and exchange rates at 53.3 per cent.
That combination matters for low-income households because inflationary pressure can enter household budgets through several channels at the same time.
Higher transport costs increase the cost of commuting and moving goods. Energy costs affect household expenditure directly and also feed into the prices of goods and services.
The income divide is accompanied by a smaller but notable geographical divide.
The survey found that 79.1 per cent of rural respondents perceived inflation as high, compared with 76.2 per cent among urban respondents.
The September survey comes after months of changing inflation dynamics in Nigeria.
The CBN’s monthly series shows that overall inflation perception has moved sharply during 2026.
The overall perception index stood at 41.4 in January, fell to 38.4 in February, climbed to 49.4 in March and then moved between 40 and 45 through much of the second and third quarters before rising to 43.1 in September.
Households have generally recorded stronger inflation perceptions than businesses in recent months.
In September, the household perception index stood at 49.9, compared with 37.1 for businesses.
The overall Inflation Expectations Index for the following month stood at 25.1 points, compared with the current-month perception index of 43.1 points.