Author: CHRISTINA MSEJA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE annual average headline inflation fate for September has decreased to 3.1per cent from 3.3 per cent recorded in August this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
NBS Acting Director of Population, Census and Social Statistics, Ms Ruth Davison told a news conference decrease has a positive impact to the citizens because it will enable to buy and access their daily services.
She further said, Food and Non Alcoholic beverage inflation rate for the month of September under review has decreased to 3.4 per cent from 3.7 per cent that was recorded in the preceding month.
The Annual inflation rate for food consumed at home and away from home for September has also decreased to 4.5 per cent from 4.8 per cent recorded in August.
According to NBS, 12 month index change for non-food products in September has stagnated at 3.1 per cent as it was recorded in the previous month.
She added that the overall index went up to 119.54 in September from 115.92 recorded in September last year.
The NBS statistics shows that the annual inflation rate which excluded food and energy for the month of September has stagnated at 2.5 per cent as it was recorded in the previous month.
The overall, the NBS statistics show that the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) has decreased by 0.3 per cent from august to September this year, compared to a decrease of 0.5 per cent that was recorded from July to August this year.
According to Ms Davison, the overall index is mainly attributed to the price decrease for food items where some food items that contributed to such decrease include rice by 1.6 per cent, maize grains by 3.4 per cent, maize flour by 1.4 per cent, vegetables by 1.5 per cent, peas by 4.3 per cent, round potatoes by 3,3 per cent , cassava by 1.4 and cooking bananas by 3.3 per cent.
In comparison with other East African countries of Kenya and Uganda, she said, in Kenya annual inflation rate decreased to 4.20 from 4.36 September this year.
In Uganda inflation decreased to 4.5 per cent from 4.6per cent recorded in September this year while in Kenya, the annual headline inflation rate increased to 3.6 per cent from 3.0 per cent recorded in November last year.
The NCPI measures the change over time in the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services that are purchased by a representative sample of households in Tanzania.
A basket includes a list of 278 goods and services of which 97 are Food and Non- Alcoholic Beverages and 181 are Non-Food items that are being priced on monthly basis.
