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Ethiopia inflation drops to 8.7 percent

07 Mar 2016, 07:12 pm
Chibuike Oguh
Ethiopia inflation drops to 8.7 percent

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- Ethiopia’s Central Statistics Agency said food inflation fell to 9.2 percent in February compared to 12.4 percent recorded in January. 

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Inflation rate in Ethiopia fell to 8.7 percent year-on-year in February from 10.2 percent recorded in the previous month, according to a report published by Ethiopia’s Central Statistics Agency (CSA) on Monday.

The Ethiopian statistics agency had announced the latest inflation figure on Friday before publishing the full report today. The agency said food inflation fell to 9.2 percent in February compared to 12.4 percent recorded in January.

The slight decline in food inflation in the month under review was a result of lower prices of most foodstuffs, especially cereals, the CSA said.

However, non-food inflation rose to 8.2 percent last month from 7.9 percent recorded in January.

“The rise in inflation in the non‐food component is mainly due to rise in the prices of clothing and footwear, construction materials, firewood and household goods and furnishings,” the CSA said.

Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a GDP growth of 10.4 percent in 2014 and 9.5 percent in 2015. The economy is expected to further decelerate to around 8.6 percent in 2016 because of a severe drought, which threatens food supplies. Agriculture accounts for about 46.6 percent of Ethiopia’s GDP and 85 percent of total employment, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The country’s foreign reserves currently stand at $3.59 billion, amounting to an import cover of just two months, as at December 31st.


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