Malawi’s year-on-year inflation rate for February 2025 has increased to at 30.7 percent on account if rising prices of both food and non-food prices, published National Statistical Office (NSO) data shows.
The 2.2 percentage increase from the 28.5 percent recorded in January 2025 comes at a time Treasury is optmistic of easing inflation in the short to medium-term.
Reads the NSO February 2025 Consumer Price Index in part: “Food inflation now stands at 38.5 percent from 36 percent observed in January 2025 while non-food inflation is at 18.5 percent from 16.9 percent over the same period.”
Unlike the typical February decline observed in the past two years, where prices fell by 12 percent in 2024 and 1 percent in 2023, maize retail prices continued their sharp rise this February.
According to International Food Policy Research Institute, during the month under review, maize prices increased by 32 percent from an average of K1 304 per kilogramme (kg) in the last week of January to an average of K1 718 per kg in the last week of February.
According to Ifpri, the rising prices are due to a poor 2024 harvest which led to a limited domestic maize supply, forcing the country to rely heavily on imports, primarily from Tanzania.
Import dependence coupled with ongoing foreign currency shortages has created significant price pressures. The sharp decline in Malawi
Kwacha’s value on the unofficial exchange market—from K3 700 against the US dollar at the end of January to K4 900 against the US dollar at the end of February had significantly contributed to the increase in the price of maize.
At the same time, from February 1, electricity consumers have been paying 16 percent more after Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) implemented the second-phase of its four-year tariff adjustment plan amid shortfalls in key performance indicators (KPI).
Following the increase, consumers now pay an average price of K142.98 per kilowatt-hour (KwH), up from the previous K123.26.
Ironically, the average cost of living for an average family of six in urban and peri-urban areas has increased by 12.9 percent to K694 653 as prices for most basic necessities continue to rise as at January 2025.
The rising cost of living, which paints a grim picture, according to CfSC economic governance officer Agness Nyirongo “is suffocating families, particularly those already teetering on the edge of poverty”.
In his 2025/26 National Budget, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola-Banda said the performance in commodity prices is expected to ease in the short to medium-term with annual average inflation projected at 24 percent in 2025.
