Households expect prices to increase coming months

•73% rural residents say inflation rate is high

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

Businesses and house holds have highlighted high interest rates, multiple taxes and poor infrastructure as top three business constraints in September, even as they expressed optimism about the macroeconomy in the coming months.

In its Business Expectation Survey, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN said: “The Confidence Index stood at 31.5 index points in the current month(September, 2025), reflecting the optimism of respondents regarding the macroeconomy. This optimism is projected to persist over the next six months, peaking at 51.8 index points.

“Respondents identified high bank charges (70.8), high/multiple taxes (70.8) andpoor infrastructure (70.7) as the top three (3) business constraints in September 2025, highlighting factors that directly impact on operational stability and profitability.

“At the bottom of the top ten constraints were Insufficient Power Supply (37.8) and Competition (40.4). This suggested that business constraints were more focused on financial factors than political challenges in the review period”.

Meanwhile, households have projected prices to increase in the coming months with their overall sentiment on the macroeconomy standing at -6.4 index points in September from-7.2 index points in August, indicating reduced pessimism.

In the CBN’s Households Expectations Survey Report for September 2025, the bank said: “Consumer sentiments on price changes stood at -6.4 index points in September 2025, indicating that respondent perceived prices were still high.

“Respondents also expect prices to increase next month, next three months and six months relative to current month.

“The overall consumer sentiment in September 2025 stood at -6.4 index points, an improvement from the -7.2 index points recorded in August 2025.

“The Economic Condition index improved from -4.3 index points recorded in August 2025 to -2.9index points in September 2025, indicating reduced pessimism about the broader economy.

“Family Financial Situation Index stood at -16.5 points in September 2025, an improvement from -17.0 in August 2025, indicating a slight easing of pessimism among respondents regarding their household finances. Family Income Sentiment recorded 0.1 index points in September 2025, indicating optimism for the first time since April 2025.”

In a similar vein, 73.9 percent of residents in rural areas are seeing inflation rate as high compared to their urban counterparts.

In its Inflation Expectation Survey Report for September 2025, CBN said: “Rural respondents (73.9 percent) indicated a higher perception of high inflation than their urban counterparts (72.4 percent).”