The country’s annual inflation rate for December increased by 4.5% compared to 2.4% recorded in December 2020, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said Thursday.
“The main contributors to the annual inflation rate were Transport (2.0 percentage points) and Food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.9 percentage points),” NSA CEO and Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni said.
On a monthly basis, the inflation rate slowed to 0.4% compared to 0.6% recorded a month earlier.
“The main contributors to the monthly inflation rate recorded in December 2021 were mainly Transport (2.1%); Alcoholic and beverage tobacco (0.5%); and Hotels, cafes and restaurants (0.4%).”
Overall, for the year 2021, the average annual inflation rate rose by 3.6% according to the agency compared to 2.2% registered in the year 2020, mainly driven by the Transport inflation.
“The increase in the annual inflation rate between 2020 and 2021 was mainly reflected in the main categories based on the basket weight; Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.3% up from -1.0% in 2020) which accounts for 28.4% of the overall inflation basket; Food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.7% up from 5.2% in 2020) which accounts for 16.5% of the overall inflation basket; and Transport (7.3% up from 0.8% in 2020) which accounts for 14.3% of the overall inflation basket,” he said.
The average retail prices of selected products for the month of December 2021 according to the NSA, revealed that consumers in Zone 1 paid the lowest price for local beer (330ml) at N$10.92 followed by Zone 3 at N$11.39, while consumers in Zone 2 paid the highest price of N$11.59.
“For Chicken, frozen assorted pieces per 1.5 kg, consumers in Zone 3 paid the highest price at N$74.08, while the lowest price was recorded in Zone 1 at N$67.57. For Pure sunflower, 750ml, consumers in Zone 1 paid the lowest at N$26.21, while the highest was paid by Zone 2 consumers at N$27.99,” Shimuafeni said.
