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Inflation rate drops to 8.3%

A Malawi’s year-on-year inflation rate for October 2017 has dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 8.3 percent from the previous month’s 8.4 percent, figures from the National Statistical Office (NSO) released yesterday show.

The minimal drop could be a reflection of the increase in non-food inflation by 0.1 percentage points to 11.7 percent in October from the previous month’s 11.6 percent, according to NSO.

This shows that the drop in food inflation by 0.3 percentage points from 5.1 percent to 4.8 percent did not have an impact on the drop of inflation in October.

Food has a huge weight at 50.1 percent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure that examines the weighted average price of a basket of consumer goods and services.

During the same period last year inflation was at 20.1 percent, showing that prices of goods and services have in the review month increased at a reduced rate.

Two months ago, inflation hit a single digit, the first time in six years, a feat the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has attributed to reduced food prices and tight monetary policy implemented by the central bank and fiscal discipline, a domain of fiscal authorities.

Government projects a single digit inflation rate for the next five years, according to the draft Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III).

 

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