Namibia’s annual inflation down at 5% in February

WINDHOEK, March 8 — Namibia’s annual inflation rate for February 2024 stood at 5 percent, compared to 7.2 percent recorded in February 2023, according to the Namibia Consumer Price Index (NCPI) statistics released Thursday. Food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to be the main contributors, which contributed 1.1 percentage points followed by transport and alcoholic beverages and tobacco, each recording 1 percentage point; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributing 0.9 percentage points, said Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni in an NCPI bulletin. “On a monthly basis, the food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate rose to 0.3 percent in February 2024, slower than 1.5 percent recorded in January 2024,” he added. According to Shimuafeni, the annual inflation rate for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased to 3.5 percent during February 2024, compared to 2.9 percent observed in February 2023. He said that the monthly inflation rate was 0.0 percent, a drop from 1.3 percent recorded a month earlier.