Uganda’s inflation rose to an eight-month high in November, largely due to price increases for food crops and the operation of personal transport equipment.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics said the consumer prices index jumped 2.6 per cent in November from the year before, the largest increase since March when it rose 2.7 per cent. The core price index, which excludes the food and energy categories as they are considered volatile, increased by 2.6 per cent, the largest jump in five months.
The month-over-month inflation rate was unchanged at 0.2 per cent. Increases in the prices of transport and restaurant and accommodation services, reported at 0.9 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, were the biggest contributors to the jump in the monthly rate. Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation dropped 0.3 per cent, however.
The rise in core consumer prices was mainly due to an increase in the year-on-year other goods inflation rate to 3.5 per cent, up from 3 per cent in October. In addition, services inflation jumped to 1.5 per cent compared to 1.1 per cent the previous month.
Food crop prices, particularly the prices for vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses which increased 5.6 per cent year on year from 2.9 per cent the previous month, were the biggest contributors to the non-core inflation rate. It increased to 2.9 per cent — the biggest jump since March 2020 — to 2.9 per cent. In October, non-core inflation was reported at 0.8 per cent.
In addition, energy, fuel, and utilities prices rose 2 per cent from the year before, up from the 0.2 per cent decline reported for October. This followed an increase in prices of liquid energy fuels, especially petrol, of 11.4 per cent versus the 7.6 per cent rise in the previous month.
