Report published by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation dropped to 15.60% in January 2022 from 15.63% reported in December 2021.
Year-on –year, this is 0.87 percent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2021 (16.47%).
This shows that headline inflation rate slowed down in January when compared to the same month in the previous year. Increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index. On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased to 1.47 percent in January 2022, this is 0.34 percent points lower than 1.82 percent recorded in December 2021.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve-month period ending January 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was 16.87 percent, showing 0.08 percent point from 16.95 percent recorded in December 2021.
The urban inflation rate increased to 16.17 percent year-on-year in January 2022 from 17.03 percent recorded in January 2021, while rural inflation rate increased to 15.06 percent in January 2022 from 15.92 percent in January 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.53 percent in January 2022, down by 0.34 percent points from 1.87 percent the rate recorded in December 2021.
The rural index also rose to 1.42 percent in January 2022, down by 0.35 percent points from 1.77 percent the rate recorded in December 2021. The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban in[1]dex is 17.44 percent in January 2022. This is lower than 17.52 percent reported in December 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in January 2022 is 16.31 percent compared to 16.40 percent recorded in December 2021.