2015-10-16Staff Report 2 Windhoek The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has revealed that the annual inflation rate for September 2015 stood at 3.3 percent compared to 3.4 percent recorded a month earlier. The slowdown is attributed to the decrease in the price levels of transport, clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, furnishings, household equipment, health, hotels, cafés and restaurants. According to the NSA the average annual and average monthly inflation rates for the period January to September were estimated at 3.4 and 0.3 percent, while the corresponding rates registered during the same period a year in 2014 stood at 5.5 and 0.5 percent respectively. The monthly inflation rate for September 2015 slowed to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent recorded in the previous month. During the period September 2014 to September 2015, the annual inflation rate fluctuated between 5.3 and 2.9 percent compared with the highest annual inflation rate of 5.3 percent observed in September 2014 and the lowest of 2.9 percent registered in April 2015. During September 2015, the slowdown in the annual inflation rate which is attributed to the transport sector showed a decline from -1.4 to -2.2 percent. The health sector declined from 5.7 to 5.4 percent. Hotels, cafés and restaurants decreased from 6.2 to 5.9 percent. Clothing and footwear decreased from 0.3 to 0.1 percent. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels declined from 2.4 to 2.3 percent. Furnishings, household equipment etc. decreased from 3.5 to 3.4 percent respectively. For the month of September, the annual inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages category stood at 5.7 percent, a 0.2 percentage point increase from 5.5 percent recorded in August 2015. This increase emanated from the sub-categories of fruit, 9.9 percent, bread and cereals, 6.3 percent, vegetables including potatoes, 5.6 percent, coffee, tea and cocoa, 4.7 percent and oils and fats 4.0 percent. The monthly inflation rate for this category stood at 0.4 percent, as compared to 0.5 percent recorded the previous month. During September the annual inflation rate for the group of alcoholic beverages and tobacco stood at 7.4 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the 7.2 percent recorded last month. Alcoholic beverages increased from 6.8 percent to 7.0 percent, while tobacco increased from 8.9 percent to 9.0 percent. The monthly inflation for this group stood at 0.5 percent during September, compared to the 0.9 percent recorded the previous month. The annual inflation rate for the group of transport was recorded at -2.2 percent in September 2015, representing a decrease of 3.6 percentage point over the month of August 2015, which recorded a rate of -1.4 percent. This decrease was brought about by a decline in the level of prices of goods and services in the category of operation of personal transport equipment, which went down to -5.7 percent from -4.6 percent the previous month. For the minor groups, high annual inflation rates were observed in the groups of miscellaneous goods and services (6.2 percent), hotels, cafés and restaurants (5.9 percent), health (5.4 percent), while education, recreation and culture recorded 4.3 and 4.2 percent respectively. Communication and clothing, as well as footwear groups, registered the lowest annual inflation rates of 1.9 and 0.1 percent each. For the month of September, the annual inflation rate for the group ‘hotels, cafes and restaurants’ dropped to 5.9 percent from 6.2 percent against the previous month. This drop emanated from the decreasing level of accommodation prices, which declined from 4.8 percent to 3.6 percent. Also during September, the monthly and annual inflation rates for goods were 0.1 and 3.5 percent, while the services category stood at 0.1 and 3.0 percent respectively. Corresponding rates recorded during the same periodthe previous year stood at 0.3 and 6.4 percent, as well as 0.0 and 3.7 percent respectively. 2015-10-16Staff Report 2
