Food inflation slows down in July
For the month of July, the food and non-alcoholic beverages annual inflation rate slowed down to 4.3% compared to 12.2% recorded in July 2016, the Namibian Statistics Agency revealed this week.
The agency stated that all sub-components annual inflation rate of Food and non-alcoholic beverages slowed with the exception of meat that accelerated to 7.9% compared to 6% recorded in July 2016. The monthly inflation rate for the food and non-alcoholic beverages, however, has increased to 0.7% as compared to 0.2% registered in the previous month.
Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni said that the annual inflation rate stood at 5.4% compared to 7% recorded in July 2016.
“The 2017 calendar year was characterized by a continuous downward trend on the annual inflation rate recording its highest rate of 8.2% in January 2017 and hitting a low of 5.4% in July 2017. The 5.4% annual inflation rate is the lowest recorded since February 2016. On a monthly basis, the inflation rate slowed down to 0.04% compared to 0.1% registered during the previous month,” he added.
The Namibian Consumer Price Index (NCPI) shows that during the month of July 2017, the main drivers of the annual inflation rate were Housing, water electricity, gas and other fuels (9.1%), Education (7.8%), Health (6.3%) and Hotels, cafes and restaurants (6.1%) and Miscellaneous goods and services (5.8%).
