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Inflationary pressure remains weak in August

Inflationary pressure remains weak in August

Inflationary pressure remained weak after the month of August recorded a slight uptick to 2.4%, from 2.1% in July, according to statistics from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).

During the month under review, the annual inflation rate for goods was estimated at 3.1%, while the rate for services stood at 1.5%. The main driver of inflation in the last couple of months has been food inflation which has been averaging 4.3% since the beginning of the year.

NSA Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said that the Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, and Zambezi regions recorded annual inflation rate of 2.5%. While in Khomas region the annual inflation rate was estimated at 2.9% and //Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke regions registered the lowest annual inflation rate of 1.5%.

Meanwhile, IJG’s inflation model forecasts an average inflation rate of 2.3% in 2020 and 3.8% in 2021, with the biggest risk to their inflation forecast being the global oil prices, although a large increase in prices seems unlikely at this point seeing that OPEC had again revised its forecast for global oil demand down by another 400,000 barrels per day to 90.2 million barrels per day.

“We do not expect landlords to push up rental prices any time soon either as many consumers will not be able to afford it and landlords will want to keep vacancies to a minimum. With these being the larger categories of the inflation basket, we thus do not foresee any sudden increases in Namibian inflation in the short-term,” IJG noted.


 

About The Author

Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys