Inflation slows down to 2.2%
By Hilary Mare
IN November 2020, the annual inflation rate slowed to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent recorded in November 2019, while on a monthly basis, the inflation rate remained unchanged at 0.1 percent compared to a month earlier, Alex Shimuafeni the Statistician-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has said.
Shimuafeni went on to highlight that the slow growth in the annual inflation rate for November 2020 was mainly reflected in the price levels of clothing and footwear (from 1.9 percent to -6.5 percent); Hotels, cafes and restaurants (from 3.5 percent to 0.9 percent), Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 1.9 percent to -1.3 percent), Transport (from 0.1 percent to -1.2 percent) and recreation and culture (from 4.9 percent to 4.3 percent).
The zonal inflation rates for the month of November 2020 revealed that Zone 1 (Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, and Zambezi) annual inflation rate stood at 2.0 percent, Zone 2 (Khomas) recorded 2.6 percent and Zone 3 (//Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke) registered 2.1 percent. On a monthly basis, Zone 1 inflation rate was stagnant while Zone 2 recorded 0.1 percent and Zone 3 recorded inflation rate of 0.3 percent.
“The analysis of the average retail prices for some of the basic products consumed by the households for the month of November 2020 indicates that for a maize meal (2.5 kg), Zone 2 recorded the lowest price of N$35.21 followed by Zone 3 at N$37.09. For cooking oil (750 ml), consumers in Zone 1 paid the lowest price at N$20.25 while the highest price was observed in Zone 3 at N$21.51. On average, the motorist in Zone 1 paid N$12.15 per litre for petrol, while in Zone 2 motorists N$12. 07 per litre and in Zone 3 the price was N$12.08 per litre,” Shimuafeni further explained.
The education category recorded the highest rise in annual inflation with a rate of 7.0 percent, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages that stood at 6.9 percent, miscellaneous goods and services at 5.0 percent, alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 4.6 percent, recreation and culture at 4.3 percent, communications at 4.1 percent while clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and transport categories recorded deflation of 6.
5 percent, 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.