Khomas Tops Inflation In December 2022 …as it pays lowest for chicken and frozen goods

By:Justicia Shipena
The Khomas region tops the list when it comes to inflation rates for the month of December 2022, according to Alex Shimuafeni, Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) statistician general and chief executive officer .
NSA yesterday released its Namibia Price Consumer Index (NCPI) bulletin for last December.
Shimuafeni said the zonal inflation rates for December 2022 revealed that Khomas, which is zone two, recorded an annual inflation rate of 7.6%.
He said the Khomas region was followed by zone one which consists of Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi regions.
“Zone 1 recorded annual inflation rates of 6.5%,” he said.
Meanwhile, zone three which is ||Kharas, Erongo, Hardap, and Omaheke recorded an annual inflation rate of 6.4%.
“On a monthly basis, Zone 1 and Zone 2, both registered an inflation rate of 0.3%, and Zone 3 recorded an inflation rate of 0.2%,” Shimuafenisaid.
He said the average retail prices of selected products for December 2022 revealed that consumers in zone three paid the lowest price for honey (500g) at N$72.37 followed by Zone 2 at N$84.10 while consumers in Zone 1 paid the highest price of N$86.05.
“For chicken, frozen assorted pieces per 1.5 kg, consumers in Zone 3 paid the highest price at N$78.33, while the lowest price was recorded in Zone 1 at N$69.49,” he stated.
This comes as the month of December 2022 recordedannual inflation rate increased by 6.9% compared to 4.5% recorded in December 2021.
Shimuafeni said every month the inflation rate slowed to 0.3% compared to 0.5% recorded in November.
He pointed out that the main contributors to the annual inflation rate were transport with 2.2 percentage points, food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.2 percentage points, alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 0.6 percentage points and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 0.2 percentage points.
The overall for the year 2022 according to the NSA report is that the average annual inflation rate rose by 6.1% compared to 3.6% registered in the year 2021, mainly driven by transport inflation.
“During the period under review, the annual inflation rate stood at 6.9 percent compared to 4.5% recorded in December 2021. The monthly inflation rate increased by 0.3% compared to 0.5% registered a month earlier,” the statistician generalsaid.
He noted that from December 2021 to December 2022, the lowest monthly inflation rate of 0.1% was witnessed in the months of May 2022 and September 2022.
“The main contributors to the monthly inflation rate recorded in December 2022 were mainly food and non-alcoholic beverage (2.2%) and hotels, cafes and restaurants (0.7%).”
Shimuafeni further said the highest changes in the annual inflation rate were mainly witnessed in the categories of transport with 14.8%t, food and non-alcoholic beverages with 11.8%; hotels, cafes, and restaurants (11.7%); furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (10.6%); recreation and culture (5.6%) and miscellaneous goods and services (4.5%).