In April, the inflation rate in Tanzania experienced a slight decline of 0.4 percentage points
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Loading... - Treasure Lyimo
- 15 May 2023
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This reduction can be attributed to a slight decrease in prices of both food and non-food items. According to a statement released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, the inflation rate dropped to 4.3 percent, down from the 4.7 percent recorded in March.
The statement highlights that this decrease reflects changes in the prices of various food items and services compared to the previous month. Notably, significant price reductions were observed in maize, which decreased from 50.9 percent to 44.8 percent, wheat flour from 16.1 percent to 7.5 percent, and sweet potatoes from 7.8 percent to 2.0 percent.
There were also minor declines in the prices of rice (from 32.0 percent to 31.2 percent), millet flour (from 5.6 percent to 5.3 percent), corn flour (from 48.9 percent to 48.0 percent), noodles (from 2.1 percent to 1.3 percent), chicken meat (from 4.6 percent to 4.5 percent), fruits (from 7.4 percent to 6.7 percent), and beans (from 30.5 percent to 29.9 percent).
In addition, certain non-food items experienced price decreases as well. For example, clothing fabrics declined from 0.9 percent to 0.1 percent, vitenge fabrics from 2.6 percent to 2.2 percent, and children's shoes from 2.6 percent to 2.5 percent. Construction materials like iron sheets and cement also saw a decline from 4.0 percent to 3.4 percent, while gas decreased from 9.0 percent to 8.3 percent. Surprisingly, petrol witnessed a significant decrease from 7.6 percent to -9.3 percent.
The NBS findings on inflation were confirmed by a spot survey conducted by the 'Daily News' in some markets in Dodoma. For instance, in Majengo market, the price of rice dropped by nearly 16 percent, going from 3,200/- per kilogram to 2,700/-, corn flour decreased by 10 percent from 2,000/- per kilogram to 1,800/-, and a bunch of sweet potatoes saw a 50 percent reduction from 2,000/- to 1,000/-.
The NBS statement also shed light on the inflation situation in other East African countries. In Uganda, inflation for April decreased to 8.0 percent from the 9.0 percent recorded in March. Similarly, in Kenya, inflation dropped to 7.9 percent from 9.2 percent in March.
