Inflation Responds To Hike In Prices Of Bread, Meat- NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has announced that inflation rose in the country to 21 percent in February. The figure increased slightly from the January figure of 21. 82 percent.

The Bureau said the slight rise In  inflation was as a result of the price increase of consumables such as meat,  bread and cereals.

According to the report released on Wednesday, the NBS said that increases were recorded in all Individual Consumption by Purpose, COICOP, divisions that yielded the headline index.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.70 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022),” the NBS said.

The report noted that the contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual and imputed rent (7.74 per cent), potatoes, yam and other tubers (6.06 per cent), vegetable (5.44 per cent) and meat (4.78 per cent ).

“On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in February 2023 was 1.71 per cent, which was 0.16 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 per cent).

“This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 per cent lower relative to January 2023,” the NBS said.

The prices of food and other commodities risen sharply since the begging of the year due to multifaceted factors, such as the cost of petrol and diesel which increased the cost of transportation, a major determinant for prices of goods and services in the country.