Tuesday June 30, 10:22 AM
UPDATE 2-Uganda inflation eases to 12.0 pct in June
By Jack Kimball
KAMPALA, June 30 (Reuters) - Uganda's headline inflation rate decreased to 12.0 percent in June from a revised 12.5 percent in the previous month, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
Overall inflation in east Africa's main economies has been on the decline in the past few months but food prices have caused it to stubbornly remain above double digits.
'The annual headline inflation rate for the year ending June 2009 dropped further to 12.0 percent from 12.5 percent revised in May 2009,' a statement by the bureau said.
Food price inflation, which makes up 27.2 percent of the consumer price index, fell to 21.7 percent from 23.8 percent in May, the bureau said.
Core (Berlin: LJ1.BE - news) inflation, which excludes food, energy and metered water prices, went up slightly to 10.7 percent from 10.5 percent in May.
Month-on-month headline inflation rose by 0.1 percent in June, the bureau said.
'Increase in the price of sugar, milk, fresh fruits and cereal food has been more than offset by a significant drop in the prices of matoke (bananas), sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and fresh vegetables in most centres during the month,' it said.
The bureau measures inflation based on surveys in the first two weeks of every month. It uses 2005/06 as the base year.
The east Africa nation's inflation rate remained in single digits until May 2008 when high commodity and fuels costs caused prices to begin to rise.
Headline inflation was 6.1 percent in 2007 and 12.1 percent last year while core inflation rose to 11.4 percent in 2008 from 6.6 percent in the previous year, according to the finance ministry.
From May 2008 to May 2009, fresh food, milk and flour prices increased 27 percent. The prices for staple foods rose 56.8 percent compared with an increase of 6.4 percent from May 2007 to May 2008, the ministry said.
Higher import costs due to the depreciation in the exchange rate also caused inflationary pressure.
Reduced inflows and increased outflows mainly on the stock exchange and government securities markets put pressure on the local unit between September and December last year. It fell 29 percent from April 2008 to April this year.
(Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Chris Pizzey) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/) Keywords: UGANDA INFLATION/
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
