Malawi inflation eases to 27.9%

Malawi’s year-on-year inflation rate for June dropped 3.1 percentage points to 27.9 percent from 31 percent in May, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Monday.

This means that prices of goods and services in the month went up at a decreasing rate, giving a respite to consumers who have been feeling the pinch of rising inflation, a monster that reduces people’s purchasing power.

This is the third month in a row for inflation to drop largely because of the availability of food of food, particularly cereals, which accounts for about 50.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)—a measure that examines the weighted average prices of consumer goods and services.

Malawi is this year expected to realise a maize surplus of about 300 000 metric tonnes.

In its Stats Flash released yesterday, NSO indicated that the urban and rural rates stand at 37.1 percent and 26.5 percent respectively.

“Non-food inflation has dropped by 4.1 percentage points to 32.5 percent,” said the NSO.