1.83% - Says National Statistics Institute

Inflation in Mozambique in November, as measured by the consumer price indices of the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira), was 1.83 per cent, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on Monday.Contributing to this was the increase in electricity prices which took effect on 1 November. The domestic tariff rose by 18.7 per cent, after five years in which the tariffs charged by the electricity company, EDM, had been frozen.In the basket of goods and services on which the consumer price index is based, electricity went up by seven per cent. Most of the other significant price rises were for foodstuffs – tomatoes (13.9 per cent), fresh fish (3.5 per cent), maize flour (two per cent), and rice (1.7 per cent).The monthly inflation rate was a decline on the 2.1 per cent registered in October. Nonetheless, it pushed the accumulated inflation rate since January to 5.53 per cent. The yearly inflation rate (1 December 2014 to 30 November 2015) is 6.27 per cent.Inflation this year is much higher than in either of the previous two years. The January to November inflation in 2013 was 2.95 per cent, and in 2014 it was 1.21 per cent.The festive season always gives prices a boost in December – and this year the sharp depreciation of the national currency, the metical against both the US dollar and the South Africa rand, is certain to push up the prices of most imported food and drink. The November inflation rate was not identical in the three cities. In Beira prices rose by 2.03 per cent in the month, in Maputo by 1.95 per cent, while in Nampula the increase was only 1.58 per cent.