Food prices rise dramatically in October
Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded the highest annual inflation rate in 2020 with 7.1% recorded in October 2020 compared to 4% registered at the same time last year. This substantial increase emanated mainly from price increases in meat from 1.9% to 9.3%, fish from 2.5% to 8.5%, oils and fats from 0.6% to 7.1%, sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolates, and confectionery from 0.7% to 6.6%.
According to the latest Namibia Consumer Price Index (NCPI) from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), other categories with high inflation was education at 7%, recreation and culture at 5.5%, miscellaneous
goods and services at 5.4%, alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 4.3%, while clothing and footwear, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels categories recorded the lowest annual inflation rates of -6.1% and -1.3%, respectively.
The report further stated that the annual inflation rate for October 2020 stood at 2.3%, down from 3% recorded in October 2019, indicating a decrease of 0.7 percentage points.
“The slowdown in the annual inflation rate between October 2019 and October 2020 resulted mainly from decreases reflected in the price levels of clothing and footwear which accounts for 3.1% of the basket that declined by 6.1% compared to 0.9% recorded in October 2019, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which accounts for 28.4% of the overall basket declined by 1.3% compared to an increase of 1.9% recorded in October 2019,” reads the report.
Further, the transport category, which accounts for 14.3% of the overall basket of NCPI, also reflected a decline of 1.2% in October 2020 compared to an increase of 1.5% registered in October 2019.
Education, which accounts for 3.6% of the basket increased by 7% in October 2020 compared to 12% recorded in October of 2019 while hotels, cafes, and restaurants, which account for 1.4% of the basket, increased by 0.8% in October 2020 compared to 2.8% registered in October 2019. The monthly inflation rate slowed to 0.1% compared to 0.3% obtained in the previous month.