The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) reported a nationwide slowdown in inflation in June 2024 despite the rates differing across the country’s three designated zones.
Zone 1 (Northern regions) and Zone 2 (Khomas region) saw slightly higher inflation at 4.8%, exceeding the national average.
Zone 3 (comprising Hardap, //Kharas, Omaheke and Erongo regions) witnessed a lower inflation rate of 4.1%, falling below the national headline figure.
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, the slowdown in inflation can be attributed to price stabilisation in the food and non-alcoholic beverages across all zones.
Zone 1 saw slower price increases in education, miscellaneous goods, clothing and home maintenance, while Zone 2 experienced similar trends in recreation, miscellaneous goods and home maintenance.
Zone 3 benefitted from slower price increases in miscellaneous goods, home maintenance and alcoholic beverages.
“The zonal inflation rates for the month of June 2024 revealed that Zone 1 and 2 each recorded annual inflation rates of 4.8%, while Zone 3 annual inflation rate was observed at 4.1%,” the report reads.
During the month, the headline inflation rate also showed a decrease to 4.6% compared to 5.3% in June 2023.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also showed signs of improvement. It dipped to 3.8% in June 2024, down from 4.1% in the previous month.
This trend continued on a monthly basis, with a deflation rate of 0.2% compared to a slight inflation of 0.3% in May 2024. Notably, this marks the first instance of monthly deflation since December 2023.
The report further shows that other categories, such as food and non-alcoholic beverages, a significant component (16.5%) of the consumer basket, also witnessed a notable slowdown in inflation.
This category saw a rate of 4.3% in June 2024, a significant decrease compared to the 11.7% recorded a year earlier attributed to price decreases in subcategories like bread, cereals, and vegetables.
It is also reported that leisure and entertainment inflation slowed down from 10.1% in June 2023 to 6.7% in June 2024.
Miscellaneous goods and services inflation also eased from 8.1% in June 2023 to 2.8% in June 2024 fueled by two subcategories: financial services and personal care products.
On the other hand, the transport category’s annual inflation rate surged to 8.3%, a stark contrast to the previous year’s decline of 0.1% in the same month.
The rise stemmed primarily from the “Operation of personal transport equipment” subcomponent, which witnessed a significant shift from a deflationary rate of -2.5% to an inflationary rate of 10.9%.
Similarly, utilities like housing, water, electricity, and gas (which altogether make up 28.4% of typical Namibian spending) inflation rate reached 3.6%, compared to 2.8% in June 2023 while hotels, cafes, and restaurants rose from 6.7% in June 2023 to 8.4% in June 2024.
This increase was primarily driven by a surge in accommodation service costs, which reached an inflation rate of 11.5% in June 2024.
