Inflation drops further in April, due to lower fruit and sugar prices

Headline inflation rate dropped further in April to 1.8% from the 2.0% recorded for the year ended March 2018.

The drop was largely attributed to the deceleration in annual food crop inflation which registered -2.1% compared to -1.7% for the year ended March 2018. This was due to a reduction in prices of fruit with annual fruit inflation slowing down to -8% from the -5.1% recorded for the year ended March 2018.

Annual core inflation also decreased to 1.6% compared to 1.7% for the year ended March 2018. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics attributed to a decrease in the price of goods in the other goods category driven particularly by sugar and bread and cereals. Sugar inflation dropped to -20.9% for the year ended April 2018 from -14.7% in March, while bread and cereals inflation decreased to -5.3% from -0.4%.

Liquid energy fuels inflation continued its upward trend, with diesel inflation rising to 15.0% for the year ending April 2018 compared to the 10.4% recorded for the year ended March 2018. Kerosene rose to 12% for the year ending April 2018 compared to 11% for the year ended March 2018.

Energy, fuels and utilities inflation increased to 10.4%, compared to 10.3% for the year ended March 2018.

Monthly headline inflation for April increased 0.3% from the 0.5% rise recorded in March 2018. The increase is driven by a rise in monthly food crops inflation that registered a 2.4% increase from the 2.7% increase recorded in March 2018. Energy, fuels and utilities inflation dropped by 0.2% from the 0.1% rise registered in March 2018, while monthly core inflation was 0.0% from the 0.2% increase previously recorded in March 2018.