Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Based on the All Items Index for July 2017, the annual inflation rate stood at 5.4 percent compared to 7 percent recorded in July 2016. This is according to the latest figures from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), which indicate that the 5.4 percent annual inflation rate is the lowest recorded since February 2016.
Thus far the 2017 calendar year has been characterised by a continuous downward trend with the annual inflation rate recording its highest rate of 8.2 percent in January 2017 and hitting a low of 5.4 percent in July 2017.
The current calendar year-to-date average inflation (from January to July 2017) stood at 6.8 percent compared to a 6.4 percent registered during the same period in 2016.
The slowdown in the July 2017 annual inflation rate emanated mainly from price levels of Food and non-alcoholic beverages, which dropped from 12.2 percent recorded in July a year earlier to 4.3 percent obtained in July 2017.
Inflation in the price of alcoholic beverages and tobacco slowed from 6.6 percent in July 2016 to 3.6 percent in July 2017. Furniture, household equipment and routine household maintenance of declined from 5.7 percent in July the previous year to 4.1 percent recorded in July 2017.
The annual inflation rate of recreation and culture fell to 4.9 percent in July 2017 from 5.3 percent registered in July 2016. On a monthly basis, the inflation rate slowed down to 0.04 percent compared to 0.1 percent registered the previous month.
The July 2017 annual inflation rate slowed down by 1.6 percentage points to 5.4 percent compared to 7.0 percent recorded in July 2016.