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Food prices put pressure on inflation, now at 9.6%

Malawi’s year-on-year headline inflation for October 2019 quickened by 0.4 percentage points to 9.6 percent pushed up by the rise in prices of food, particularly maize, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said yesterday.

The rate at which prices of goods and services are rising was at 9.2 percent the previous month.

Kabambe: Inflation to average nine percent

The October inflation rate is 0.1 percentage points down compared to 9.7 percent registered during the same period last year, NSO figures show.

In a statement yesterday, NSO said food inflation rate was recorded at 4.2 percent, a jump from three percent recorded in September 2019.

On the other hand, non-food inflation dropped to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent in September, according to NSO.

“The urban month-to-month inflation rate is at 1.2 percent. Urban food and non-food inflation rates stand at 2.8 and 0.3 percent, respectively.

“The rural month-to-month inflation rate was registered at three percent. Rural food and non-food inflation rates stand at five percent and 0.5 percent respectively,” reads the statement in part.

In an earlier statement, Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor Dalitso Kabambe said inflation rate, which has remained in single digit, is projected to average nine percent this year.

The Famine Early Warning System Network (FewsNet) recent report indicated that food prices are above average throughout the country due to below-average supply in most markets.

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