Maputo, 12 May (AIM) – Mozambique’s annual rate of inflation rose slightly in April, according to the latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The annual inflation rate in April was 3.26 per cent. This compares with a rate of 3.03 per cent in March, four per cent in February, and 4.19 per cent in January.
Based on the consumer price indices from all of Mozambique’s major urban centres, the INE calculates that prices rose by an average of just 0.37 per cent in March.
The main price rises over the month were for lettuce (30.7 per cent), onions (14.1 per cent), cabbage (12.2 per cent), butter beans (2.4 per cent), maize flour (1.8 per cent), and dried fish (1.7 per cent).
But the prices of some foodstuffs declined in April. Thus the average price of unprocessed maize fell by 9.8 per cent, of sweet potatoes by 7.9 per cent, and of okra by 9.5 per cent.
Inflation over the first four months of 2024 was 1.8 per cent, accounted for mostly by rises in food prices. At this rate, by the end of the year annual inflation will certainly be less than ten per cent, and quite possibly less than five per cent.
The city with the highest rate of inflation in April was Maputo (0.86 per cent), followed by Inhambane (0.35 per cent), and Quelimane (0.28 per cent).
The lowest inflation was in Tete (0.11 per cent), and in Nampula (0.12 per cent).
(AIM)
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