Tanzania: Inflation Takes a Slight Drop in March, Says NBS

13 April 2023
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
By Pilly Nashon

Dodoma — THE country's annual headline inflation rate for the month of March, this year has dropped to 4.7 per cent from 4.8 per cent recorded for the month of February, this year.

National Bureau Statistics Office (NBS) said the decrease of the headline inflation explains that the speed of price change for commodities for March has slightly decreased compared to February.

"The inflation rate drop for March as the decrease in inflation for some food and non-food products during that period," the Statistician General, Dr Albina Chuwa told journalists in Dodoma yesterday.

She said that some food items that contributed to the decrease in inflation during the period include rice that dropped from 32.7 per cent to 32 per cent, wheat flour price decreased from 18.8 per cent to 16.1 per cent, millet flour from 5.8 per cent to 5.6 per cent and fruits that have decreased from 7.5 per cent to 7.4 per cent.

"Sweet potato price decreased from 12.5 per cent to 7.8 per cent, raw cassava from 23.3 per cent to 20.9 per cent, green grams from 7.9 per cent to 5.2 per cent, dry peas from 4.0 per cent to 2.2 per cent and dry pulses from 16.2 per cent to 12.9 per cent," she said.

Dr Chuwa noted that non-food products that showed a decrease in inflation for the same period includes men's clothes that decreased from 2.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent, women's clothes from 2.9 per cent to 2.8 per cent, men's shoes from 2.6 per cent to 2.3 per cent and children's shoes from 2.7 per cent to 2.6 per cent.

"Prices of construction and home renovations materials have also decrease from 5.0 per cent to 4.0 per cent in the mentioned period," said Dr Chuwa.

"Price inflation rate has also dropped in the energy sector, where cooking gas price has decreased from 9.1 per cent to 9.0 per cent, wood from 13.0 per cent to 8.2 per cent and diesel from 27.8 per cent to 23.2 per cent," she added.

In addition, Dr Chuwa noted that Tanzania's inflation has decreased significantly compared to other East African countries, where during the same period, Uganda's inflation has decreased from 9.2 per cent to 9.0 per cent, while in Kenya, the inflation has remained at 9.2 per cent.

However, she said the overall index went up from 107.09 recorded in March, 2022 to 112.13 in March, this year.

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