Food and non-alcoholic beverages
Food and non-alcoholic beverages which account for 16.5 percent of the the NCPI basket, registered an annual inflation rate of 5.8 percent in February 2024, comaperd to 14.0 percent recorded in February 2023. On a monthly basis, the food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation rate rose to 0.3 percent in February 2024, slower than 1.5 percent that was recordeed in January 2024.
This Month Analysis
The Food sub-category accounts for 14.8 percent of the consumer basket in the NCPI. Within the Food sub component, Bread, and cereals’ accounts for the highest weight of Food items that consumers purchase with a weight of (4.8%), followed by Meat (3.5%); ‘Sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate, and confectionery’ (1.4%); Vegetables and ‘Milk, cheese, and eggs’ (1.2%) each.
Bread and cereals prices on average declined by 0.4 percent in February 2024, compared to 22.0 percent increase witnessed during the same month of the previous year. The decrease in the annual inflation rate for this subcategory was mainly observed in the price levels of Maize, meal/grain (from
35.9% to -8.3%); Bread, cake flour (from 26.4% to -2)
On average, Oils and fats prices increased by 0.8 percent in February 2024 compared to an inflation of 17.9
percent recorded a year ago. The slower increase in the annual inflation rate for this subcategory emanates from
a decrease in prices of cooking oil (from 22.3% to -3.0%); Cooking fats (from 11.9% to -3.0%); and ‘Margarine
and margarine spreads’ (from 14.2% to 2.4%).
The Fruits subcomponent