Mozambique: Inflation remained low in March – AIM

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Mozambique: Inflation remained low in March – AIM

7:30 CAT | 15 Apr 2020

in file CoM

The rate of inflation in Mozambique in March was 0.22 per cent, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), citing the consumer price indices from the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira).

This brought inflation for the first quarter of the year to 1.22 per cent. Yearly inflation (from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020) was 3.09 per cent.

While many prices were unchanged in March, the price of sweet potatoes rose by 7.4 per cent, of groundnuts by 3.4 per cent, of fresh fish by 4.4 per cent, of cooking oil by 3.9 per cent and of beer by 0.7 per cent.

Outside the categories of food and drink, the largest price rise was for theatre tickets , which rose by an average of 40 per cent.

Among the items whose prices fell were tomatoes (a drop of 5.7 per cent) and charcoal (down by one per cent.

At this rate the government’s target for yearly inflation of less than ten per cent will be easily reached.

However, this data was collected before the state of emergency which took effect on 1 April. It remains to be seen what effect the state of emergency will have on prices. A related problem is the lockdown in South Africa and the closure of the South African border. This could have a serious impact on the informal traders who supply Maputo with a great deal of the city’s fruit and vegetables.

Source: AIM