NBS: Inflation rises to 11.40% in May

Inflation rate rose to 11.40 per cent (year-on-year) in May 2019 according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report.

According to the report, this is 0.03 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in April 2019 (11.37 per cent).  Increases were recorded in all 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions, that yielded the Headline index. On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.11 per cent in May. This is 0.17 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in April 2019 (0.94 percent).

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending May 2019, over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.30 per cent, 0.01 per cent points from 11.31 per cent recorded in April 2019. The urban inflation rate increased by 11.76 per cent (year-on-year) in May 2019 from 11.70 per cent recorded in April 2019, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.07 per cent in May from 11.08 per cent in April. On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.15 percent in May, up by 0.15 points from 1.00 per cent recorded in April 2019, while the rural index also rose by 1.07 per cent in May 2019, up by 0.17 from the rate recorded in April 2019 (0.90 per cent).

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“The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 11.66 per cent in May. This is less than the 11.69 per cent reported in April, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in May is 10.99 per cent compared to 11.00 per cent recorded in April.

The composite food index rose by 13.79 per cent in May 2019 compared to 13.70 per cent in April 2019. This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of meat, oils and fats, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, milk, cheese and egg, and vegetables. On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.41 percent in May 2019, up by 0.27 percent points from 1.14 percent recorded in April 2019. The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending May 2019 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.37 percent, 0.03 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2019 (13.34 percent),” NBS said.

The ”All items less farm produce” or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 9.0 per cent in May down by 0.3 per cent when compared with 9.3 per cent recorded in April. On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.75 per cent in May. This was up by 0.05 per cent when compared with 0.70 per cent recorded in April. The highest increases were recorded in prices of domestic and household services, tobacco, actual and imputed rentals for housing, medical, dental and hospital services, cleaning, repair and hire of clothing, repair and hire of footwear and repair of household appliance. The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 9.77 per cent for the twelve-month period ending May 2019; this is 0.14 percent points lower than 9.91 percent recorded in April 2019.