Namibia’s annual inflation rate increased to 5.6% in October 2026, up from 5.4% in September and 3.6% in October 2025, driven largely by rising fuel, transport and food prices, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
The latest Namibia Consumer Price Index (NCPI) Bulletin shows that monthly inflation accelerated to 0.7% in October, compared with 0.4% in September.
Transport was the largest contributor to annual inflation, accounting for 2.5 percentage points of the overall rate. Inflation in the sector rose sharply to 16.5%, compared with 2.1% in October 2025.
The increase was mainly driven by petrol and diesel prices, which rose by 34.1% year-on-year, compared with an increase of 0.8% during the corresponding period last year.
The cost of operating personal transport equipment increased by 22.7%, compared with 1.7% a year earlier, while public transport services recorded inflation of 15%, up from 0.8% in October 2025.
“Operation of personal transport equipment recorded an increase of 22.7 percent during the review period, compared to 1.7 percent increase in October 2025,” the NSA said.
“The increase was mainly due to petrol/diesel (from 0.8% to 34.1%), licence and registration fees (from 0.0% to 8.7%) and spare parts and accessories (from 1.1% to 8.6%).”
Meanwhile, annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased to 4.8%, compared with 4.6% in October 2025, contributing one percentage point to the overall inflation rate.
Fruit prices recorded the highest increase among food categories at 13.5%, driven by higher prices for bananas, which rose by 28.8%, avocados by 21.4% and pears by 9.2%.
Vegetable inflation accelerated to 10.5%, compared with 5.7% a year earlier. Onion prices increased by 27.3%, broccoli and cauliflower by 20.5%, and sweet potatoes by 17.1%.
Prices for milk, cheese and eggs rose by 7.8%, reversing a 1% decline recorded in October 2025.
Meat inflation stood at 5.9%, while bread and cereals recorded an increase of 2.7%.
According to the NSA, food accounts for 14.8% of the national consumer basket, with bread and cereals carrying the largest weighting at 4.8%, followed by meat at 3.5%.
Sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery account for 1.4% of the basket, while vegetables and milk, cheese and eggs each account for 1.2%.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which make up 28.4% of the consumer basket, recorded annual inflation of 3.9%, down from 4.1% in October 2025.
The category contributed one percentage point to overall inflation.
The NSA further reported that annual goods inflation increased to 6.3%, compared with 3.4% in October 2025, while services inflation rose to 4.5%, up from 4% a year earlier.
“The annual inflation rate for goods stood at 6.3 percent during the review period, up from 3.4 percent recorded in the corresponding month of the previous year. Meanwhile, the annual inflation rate for services rose to 4.5 percent, compared to 4.0 percent in October 2025,” the report stated.
On a monthly basis, goods inflation increased to 0.7%, compared with 0.6% in September, while services inflation accelerated to 0.8%, up from 0.1% in the previous month.
Regionally, Khomas recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 6.2%, followed by Zone 3, comprising //Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke, at 6.1%.
Zone 1, covering the northern and northeastern regions, recorded the lowest inflation rate at 4.6%.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes selected volatile food and energy items, stood at 3.7%, below the headline inflation rate of 5.6%.
The NSA reported that the 12-month average annual inflation rate stood at 3.8%, while average inflation for the April to October 2026 fiscal period was estimated at 4.6%.
