Inflation Down To 11.61% In May
The Consumer Price Index which measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services released by the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that inflation rate dropped from 12.48 per cent in April to 11.61 per cent in May.
The CPI showed that the rate recorded is 0.87 percent points less than the rate recorded in April 2018. The bureau, in the report, said this was the 16th consecutive month that the inflation rate would be experiencing a continuous decline.
The report said “The Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 11.61% (year-on-year) in May 2018. This is 0.87% points less than the rate recorded in April 2018 13.34% and represents the sixteenth consecutive disinflation since January 2017,” the report read.
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.09% in May 2018, up by 0.26% points from the rate recorded in April 2018.”
The NBS stated that in May figures, increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yield the headline index.
COICOP is a classification and analysis of individual consumption expenditures incurred by households, non-profit institutions serving households and government according to their purpose.
It includes categories such as clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity.
On a month-on-month basis, the Headline Index increased by 1.09 per cent in May 2018, up by 0.26 percentage points over the rate recorded in April 2018.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending May 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 14.79 per cent, indicating a 0.41 percentage point decline from 15.20 per cent posted in April 2018.
This rise in the index was caused by increases in prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetables, fish, bread and cereals, fruits and meat.
On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.33 per cent in May 2018, up by 0.42 percentage points from 0.91 per cent recorded in April.

The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12-month period ending May 2018 over the previous 12-month average was 18.36 per cent, 0.53 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in April (18.89) per cent.