Ethiopia’s overall inflation has dropped to 19.9 percent in June 2024 compared to the 29.3 percent rate observed in the same period last year, the Ethiopian Statistics Service (ECS) has disclosed in a report.
According to the report issued on Tuesday, compared to a year ago, inflation is now down by 9.4 percentage points.
Also, the month-on-month general inflation rate —which better captures the most recent momentum in price levels- stands at 0.9 percent in June 2024. It was 3.3 percent in the same month last year.
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) said the decline “is just in line” with its target to bring the overall inflation down to 10% by June 2025.
“This… shows the progress of the monetary policy stance adopted during the past year and other supporting supply side measures that increased output,” said the national bank.
The non-food inflation – which is more closely linked to the national bank’s monetary policy measures – has been halved, dropping by 16.1 percentage points in June 2024 from last year’s 31.4 percent.
The non-food inflation jumped by 15.8 percent in the same period, the CPI report indicates.
Increase in prices in Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (23.2 percent), Housing, water, electricity and other fuel component (16.9percent); Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the House (11.7 percent); are said to be the main factors for the thrice in nonfood inflation.
Health (26.3 percent); Transport (13.1 percent); Communication (21.3percent); Education (23.5 percent); Restaurants and hotels (19.7 percent) goods and services (13.3 percent) have also contributed to the rise in the inflation rate in June, 2024.
Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages inflation is also slowing down but the rate of increase remains high. The CPI report says food inflation has declined by 5.3 percentage points from last year’s 28 percent.
It, however, increased by a 22.7 percent year-on-year increase from last year due to rise in average prices in major food commodities in June 2024.
MG/as/APA