Inflation remains at a high of 7.3%
16 December 2016 – The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) released inflation statistics for November 2016 earlier this week.
The annual inflation rate remained steady at 7.3% in November 2016 when compared to October 2016 but it came in 4.0% higher than the 3.3% recorded in the prior year.
Monthly inflation grew at a slower pace of 0.3% compared to 0.5% in October 2016. According to the NSA, the Namibia Consumer Price Index (NCPI) increased by 0.3 index points m-o-m in October 2016 to 121.9.
Inflation remains stubbornly high despite the stronger Rand in November and slowing growth in Food and Non-Alcoholic beverages. In addition, South African inflation increased to 6.6% in November 2016 compared to 6.4% in October 2016.
According to local Financial securities firm, Simonis Storms Securities, in their view, inflation will remain subdued at current levels over the short – medium term.
“This is based on an anticipated stronger US Dollar as the US hiked interest rates by 25bps recently,” SSS added.
Furthermore, SSS said the increase in fuel prices in South Africa is likely to filter through into Namibia and we expect annual inflation for 2016 to average at 6.5%.
