Early this month news agency AIM reported that inflation in Mozambique in January - as measured by the consumer price indices of the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira) - was 2.48%, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Although this is considerably less than the December rate of 4.76%, it is still a high rate for a single month, and clearly compromises the government’s target for an inflation rate for all of 2016 of no more than 5.6%.
The main increases noted were for maize (13.2%), cowpeas (22.5%), rice (13%), tomatoes (11.5%), coconuts (10.2%), maize flour (6.7%) and onions (5.7%).
This was followed last week by the Bank of Mozambique, in its fight against inflation, once again increasing its repo rate from 9.75% to 10.75% - the highest interest the bank has charged since September 2012.
