Vegetable traders attending to their stalls at a market in Kigali
The National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR) has released updated information indicating an increase in consumer prices in urban areas compared to the rural ones.
The report released February 10, 2024 showed that the urban Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 5% on annual basis (January 2024 compared to January 2023) and it decreased by 0.1% on monthly basis (January 2024 to December 2023).
The overall Rwanda CPI increased by 3.1% on annual basis and it decreased by 0.9% on monthly basis.
This is increase is commonly seen in Non-alcoholic beverages, meat, milk cheese and eggs Alcoholic beverages tobacco and narcotics, Clothing and footwear, Housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels.
Beef prices have recently gone high.
NISR reported that the annual average inflation rate between January 2024 and January 2023 was 12.7% and the annual average underlying inflation rate standing at 8.8%.
The underlying inflation rate (excluding fresh food and energy) increased by 5.4 percent when compared to January 2023 and it increased by 0.4 percent when compared to December 2023
However Central Bank Governor, John Rwangombwa had last year said that the Inflation development (projections) show that headline inflation is expected to drop below 12.3% to 7.6% by the end of the fourth quarter (2023) and further drop to 5% next year.
“That course will depend on how agriculture performs,” Rwangobwa said and explained that the reason why Rwanda’s inflation remains at a double digit is because of the high inflation in fresh food which still remains high despite a significant reduction.
The ministry of agriculture recently announced that they plan to increase on the cultivated land and productivity but also increase on agriculture inputs and subsidies to curb down some of the causes of inflation pressure on food prices.
Farmers deliver bags of Irish potatoes at a collection center waiting for traders
