Monthly inflation shows slight decrease

Month on month general inflation rate in January 2022 caps at 34.5 percent showing slight decrease from 35.1 percent in December, the Central Statistics Service reveals.
According to the monthly inflation rate report of the statisticians, the month on month food inflation rate for January 2022 decreased by 1.7 percentage points in comparison to the preceding month, however, during the similar period, the non-food inflation rate increased by 0.7 percent.
On similar trends, the ‘12 months Moving Average Inflation rate’ at country level rose by 28.1 percent in January 2022 when compared to a similar period of a year back. The country level food inflation increased by 33.1 percent as compared to last year similar period while the country level non-food inflation rate increased by 21.5 percent. Most of the components of the food index showed increase as compared to a similar period of last year.
Likewise January 2022 General year-on-year inflation has increased by 34.5 percent when viewed against January 2021. The year-on-year food inflation to that regard has peaked at 39.9 percent.
In the current month, cereals and vegetables in addition to teff, wheat, barely, maize and sorghum have shown a decline in most cases. However, meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and spices (mainly salt and pepper) have slightly increased in the current month. Cooking oil and butter prices similarly have shown increase.
Additionally, coffee beans and non-alcoholic beverages prices have also increased consistently.
When looking into non-food inflation, an increase of 27.3 percent in January 2022 has been seen. The rise in non-food Inflation is mainly due to rise in the prices of alcohol, tobacco, stimulants (chat), clothing and footwear, housing repair and maintenance (House rent, cement and corrugated iron sheets). Also adding to the weight on the list is the rise in price of energy (firewood and charcoal), furniture and home furnishings, fuel, medical care and jewelry (gold).
The month-on-month general Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2022 has showed a slight increase of 1.2 percentage points while the food item CPI in complementary trend showed increase by 0.8 percentage points as compared to the preceding month of December 2021. In similar fashion a 1.6 percent increase has been note for non-food CPI showed for the same period.
The monthly inflation rate measures the price change between the two latest months. Although up to date, it can be affected by seasonal and other short term effects.