Inflation rises as beverages decline

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) reported an increase in inflation for the month of May 2015. The annual rate increased to 3% from 2.9% in the previous month.

Acting Statistician General at the NSA, Liina Kafidi said the main drivers of annual inflation during the month of May, consisted of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, furnishing and household equipment. Routine maintenance of houses increased from 3.6% to 4.8% whiles alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased from 7.1% to 7.2%.
On a monthly basis, the general inflation rate for May slowed to 0.4% from 0.5% recorded in April 2015. The slowdown in the monthly inflation resulted from alcoholic beverages and tobacco declines from 1.5% to 0.5% whilst transport declined from 1.7% to 1.3%.
The annual inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic for the month of May stood at 4.5% as compared to a year earlier of 9.9 %.
“The increase in food price annual inflation over the month was mainly reflected in the following sub-components Vegetables including potatoes and other tubers (9%), fruit (7.9%), sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery (7.1%), and meat (5.7 %). This group contributed 0.8% to the overall annual inflation rate,” said Kafidi.
The agency also reported that the annual inflation rate for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels stood at 2.5% for May as compared to 3.6% recorded during the same period a year earlier.