PRICES for oils and fats augmented by 23.4 percent in April 2022 compared to 7.5 percent recorded during the same time a year earlier driven by the increase in the price levels of Cooking oil that escalated from 13.9% to 35.3%, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has said.
Equally, prices of cooking fats rose from 6.2% to 27.4%; and Margarine &
margarine spreads from -1.3% to 12.1%, the statistics watchdog said.
On the other hand, the price levels of Fish increased by 1.4 percent in April 2022, a slowdown, when compared to 3.6 percent recorded in April 2021. The slowdown in the annual inflation rate for this category emanated from decreases in the price levels of Fresh, chilled & frozen fish (from 7.2% to 1.3%).
However, the prices for meat increased by 3.5 percent during the period under review, a slowdown when compared to an increase of 15.8 percent registered during the same period last year. The slowdown in the annual inflation rate for Meat was mainly observed in the price levels of Mutton (from 17.5% to 1.1%); Beef (from 16.1% to 1.5%); Chicken (from 21.9% to 7.6%); and Liver and kidneys (from 17.0% to 4.4%).
Holistically, NSA said that in April 2022, the annual inflation rate increased by 5.6 percent compared to 3.9 percent recorded in April 2021, this was the highest annual percentage change above 5 percent recorded since December 2018.
On a monthly basis, the inflation rate increased by 1.4 percent compared to 0.5 percent
recorded a month earlier.
“The main contributors to the annual inflation rate for April 2022 were mainly Transport (2.7 percentage points); Food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.1 percentage points); Alcoholic beverages & tobacco (0.6 percentage points); Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and Furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house each contributed (0.4 percentage points).
“The Zonal inflation rates for the month of April 2022 revealed that, Zone 2 (Khomas) recorded the highest annual inflation rate of 6.3 percent followed by Zone 3 (Hardap, Omaheke, //Karas, and Erongo) at 5.3 percent while Zone 1 (Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, and Zambezi) recorded the lowest annual percentage rate of 5.1 percent,” statistician-general, Alex Shimuafeni said.
On a monthly basis, the highest inflation rate of 1.6 percent was registered in Zone 1 while Zone 2 and Zone 3 recorded monthly inflation rate of 1.3 percent each. Analysis of the average retail prices of selected products for the month of April 2022 showed that
consumers in Zone 3 paid the highest price for Pure sunflower oil (750 ml) at N$37.50 followed by Zone 2 at N$32.60, while consumers in Zone 1 paid the lowest price of N$29.76. For White bread, consumers in Zone 3 paid the highest price at N$11.49, while the lowest price was paid by consumers residing in Zone 1 at N$10.99.