Inflation eases in June

The headline annual inflation rate for June stood at 4.6%, compared to 5.3% registered in June 2023, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said. The inflation rate declined to 0.2% compared to 0.3% witnessed a month earlier.

During the month of June, the core inflation rate stood at 3.8%, while the headline inflation rate at 4.6%. Core inflation refers to a measure of inflation that excludes certain volatile elements from the overall inflation calculation.

The main contributors to the annual inflation rate of 4.6% in June were transport, which accounted for 1.3 percentage points; food and non-alcoholic beverages, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, each contributing 0.9 percentage points; while alcoholic beverages and tobacco added 0.7 percentage points, according to the NSA.

“The highest change in the annual inflation rates were witnessed in the categories of hotels, cafés and restaurants (8.4%); transport (8.3%); recreation and culture (6.7%); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (5.3%), and food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.3%),” the NSA said.

The zonal inflation rates for June revealed that Zone 1 (Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi regions) and Zone 2 (Khomas Region) each recorded annual inflation rates of 4.8%, while Zone 3's (//Karas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke regions) annual inflation rate was observed at 4.1%.

“An analysis of the average retail prices of selected products for June showed that consumers in Zone 3 paid the highest price for white bread flour (2.5 kilograms) at N$56.63, followed by Zone 1 consumers at N$55.99, while consumers in Zone 2 paid the lowest price at N$55.11. Meanwhile, consumers in Zone 2 paid the highest price for pure sunflower oil (750 millilitres) at N$31.32, followed by Zone 3 consumers at N$30.26, while Zone 1 consumers paid the lowest price at N$29.13,” the NSA said.