Inflation in Tanzania decreased to 5.1 per cent in July from 5.5 per cent recorded in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.
NBS Director of Population, Census and Social Statistics, Mr Ephraim Kwesigabo, told reporters in Dar es Salaam the decrease is attributed to the decrease in prices of various commodities during July.
“The decrease of Annual Headline Inflation Rate for the year ending July 2016 explains that the speed of price increase for commodities in the year ending July has decreased as compared to the speed of price increase recorded for the year ended June 2016,” he said.
He said the annual inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages in July decreased to 7.6 per cent from 8.1 per cent recorded in the month of June.
“Annual inflation rate for the food consumed at home and away from home has decreased to 7.8 per cent recorded in June 2016,” he explained, adding: “In addition, the 12-month index change for non-food items has decreased to 3.2 per cent in July from 3.6 per cent recorded in June 2016.”
On the other hand, Mr Kwesigabo said, the overall index went up to 103.50 in July from 89.48 recorded in June. The increase of the overall index is attributed to the price increase of both food and nonfood items.
Some of the food items that contributed to such increase include cooking oils by 1.1 per cent, fresh fish by 6.0 per cent, fruits by 4.9 per cent and dry beans by 2.7 per cent, cooking banana 1.9 per cent and white maize grains by 1.5 per cent.
“On the other hand, nonfood items that contributed to such increase include diesel — by 5.6 per cent, kerosene by 3.7 per cent and petrol by 1.3 per cent,” said Mr Kwesigabo. In another development, the senior NBS official said that the purchasing power of 100 Tanzanian shillings has reached 96/- and 62 cents in July 2016 from December.
The consumer purchasing power of the Tanzanian shilling measures the change in the value of consumer goods and services that a Tanzanian shilling could buy at different periods. If the overall level of consumer price index (CPI) goes up, the purchasing power of a Tanzania shilling goes down”, he explained.
Source: Anne Robi, AllAfrica
