Mozambique's annual inflation rate has reached almost 12 per cent according to the latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Based on the consumer price indices for the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira), the INE calculates the monthly inflation in July at 0.62 per cent. This pushed inflation in the first seven months of the year to 7.1 per cent. The main components of this inflation were food and non-alcoholic drinks, and transport.

Annual inflation (1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022) was 11.77 per cent, ending all hopes by the government and the Bank of Mozambique to keep inflation this year to less than 10 per cent.

The items that contributed most to inflation in July were liquid fuels - the average price of diesel rose by 10.9 per cent, petrol by 4.3 per cent, and butane cooking gas by 18.6 per cent. Other significant price rises were for fresh cassava (up by 22.4 per cent), tomatoes (three per cent), fresh fish (1.3 per cent), and bread (one per cent).

The prices of a few foodstuffs came down - notably cabbage (down by eight per cent) and coconuts (3.8 per cent).

Of the three cities, Nampula had the sharpest July inflation rate of 0.94 per cent, followed by Maputo (0.59 per cent) and Beira (0.25 per cent).

The annual inflation rate has been rising remorselessly this year - up from 6.67 per cent in March, to 7.9 per cent in April, 9.31 per cent in May, 10.81 per cent in June, and now 11.77 per cent.

This is the highest annual inflation rate since August 2017, when the rate hit 14.13 per cent.