Namibia’s annual inflation rate for September 2025 rose slightly to 3.5%, up from 3.4% recorded in September 2024. This is according to the latest report released yesterday by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
The main drivers behind the increase were food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, as well as alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
According to Statistician General and NSA CEO Alex Shimuafeni, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 1.0% point to the overall inflation rate. Housing and related utilities followed with 0.9 percentage points, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco contributed 0.7% points.
On a monthly basis, inflation remained unchanged at 0.0%, the same as the rate recorded in August 2025.
“Food and non-alcoholic beverages, which make up 16.5% of the consumer basket used to measure inflation, recorded an annual inflation rate of 4.9% in September 2025. This is a slight decrease from 5.1% seen in the same month last year,” he said.
The monthly price level for food remained flat in September, following a 0.2% decline in August.
“Within the food category, bread and cereals carry the most weight at 4.8%, followed by meat (3.5%), sugar and sweets (1.4%), vegetables, milk, cheese and eggs (1.2%) each,” Shimuafeni said.
The report further showed that inflation for coffee, tea and cocoa slowed significantly to 5.9% in September 2025, compared to 10.8% in September 2024.
This drop was mainly due to lower price increases for chocolate drinks (from 14.1% to 4.2%) and tea (from 10.4% to 1.7%).
Similarly, the category of sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery saw its annual inflation fall to 2.6%, down from 6.6% a year ago.
“The zonal inflation rates for the month of September 2025 revealed that Zone 1 (Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi regions) recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 3.8%. They are followed by Zone 3 (//Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke regions) at 3.4%, while Zone 2 (Khomas region) recorded the lowest rate of 3.2%,” he said.
Analysis of average retail prices for selected products in September 2025 revealed that consumers in Zone 2 paid the highest price for biltong (per kg) at N$568.16, followed by Zone 1 at N$532.93.
The lowest price was paid by Zone 3 consumers at N$416.51.
In addition, consumers in Zone 2 paid the highest price for whisky-assorted (750ml) at N$266.26, followed by Zone 3 at N$262.29, with Zone 1 consumers paying the lowest price at N$254.58.
“Core inflation stood at 3.6%, slightly above the headline rate of 3.5%. Core inflation excludes volatile items from the overall inflation calculation.
These volatile items typically include food and energy (excluding gas, paraffin, methylate spirits as well as coal and charcoal). They are prone to significant price fluctuations due to factors such as weather conditions, geopolitical events or changes in supply and demand,” he said.