Anthony Bugembe And Isabel Pike
30 June 2009
Kampala — UGANDA'S annual inflation rate dropped from 12.5% in May to 12.0% in June, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
"If this trend continues, there is hope that in the near future prices will stabilise," Vincent Nsubuga, the principal statistician, said.
Food prices that usually fall at this time of the year when crops are harvested, dropped by 0.8%. The fall, not as drastic as normal, suggests high demand is keeping prices up.
Nsubuga said prices of non-food items like cement, beauty products, bicycle spare parts, petrol, paraffin, charcoal and firewood, rose in June.
The increasing global price of oil has increased the domestic price of petrol and paraffin.
Nsubuga said: "Increase in the price of sugar, milk, fresh fruits and cereals has been more than offset by a significant drop in the prices of matooke, sweet potatoes and vegetables."
Masaka district, which heavily relies on matooke production, registered the highest drop in food prices.
"Now that harvesting has started, the increased supply has brought prices down," Nsubuga said.
To the contrary, prices increased in Jinja because foods like matooke, beans and groundnuts consumed in the district are not from within.
Core inflation, which excludes food items, fuel, electricity and metered water, rose slightly from 10.5% in May to 10.7%.
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