Crippling Inflation surges to 23.5% as food prices go up

Malawi’s for June rose to 23.5 percent from 19.1 percent in May, according to  figures from National Statistical Office (NSO) show.

During the month under review, food inflation was recorded at 31.2 percent and non-food Inflation at 16.6 percent, respectively.

In May food inflation was at 25.5 percent while non food inflation was lowest at 13.2 percent.

This follows the recent devaluation of Kwacha, hike of fuel prices and exogenous shocks induced by the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, as an intervention measure, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has recently signalled the need to tighten monetary policy in the wake of the prevailing economic trends.

Maize, as part of the food component, weighs heavily in the consumer price index, which is an aggregate basket of goods and services used for computing inflation.