Inflation rate increases to 16.82% in April, says NBS

The National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) on Monday disclosed that Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 16.82 per cent in April 2022.

The inflation rate, according to NBS was at 15.91 per cent in March 2022.

The reported 16.82 per cent is 1.3 per cent points year-on-year lower when compared to the rate recorded in April 2021 (18.12) per cent.

This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in April when compared to the same month in the previous year.

The bureau noted that increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index. On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased to 1.76 per cent in April 2022, this is a 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in March 2022 (1.74) per cent.

NBS report on CPI said: “The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending April 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period is 16.45 per cent, showing a 0.1 percent decrease compare to the 16.54 percent recorded in March 2022.

“The urban inflation rate increased to 17.35 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2022 from 18.68 per cent recorded in April 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 16.32 per cent in April 2022 from 17.57 per cent in April 2021.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.78 per cent in April 2022, up by 0.02 from the rate recorded in March 2022 (1.76), while the rural index also rose to 1.74 per cent in April 2022, up by 0.01 from the rate that was recorded in March 2022 (1.73) per cent.

“The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 17.01 percent in April 2022. This is lower than 17.10 per cent reported in March 2022, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in April 2022 is 15.91 percent compared to 16.00 per cent recorded in March 2022.”