Inflation drops to 1.9 per cent
Passengers flock without wearing facemasks in the New Taxi Park in Kampala on August 13. According to Ubos, Uganda's headline inflation has dropped. PHOTO/FILE
Headline inflation dropped to 1.9 per cent for the period ended May compared to 2.1 per cent in April, according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
The drop is the first measurement under a new inflation calculating methodology that Ubos introduced.
The new methodology recently added new items the Consumer Price Index.
The drop was mainly attributed on a decline in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which dropped to -3.5 per cent in May compared to -2 per cent in April.
Ms Kaudha Aliziki Lubega, the Ubos director macroeconomic statistics, said housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels inflation dropped to -1.7 per cent during the period compared to the -1.5 per cent in April. Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods inflation decreased to 2.3 per cent in May compared to 2.5 per cent April.
However, she noted that there was an increase in transport inflation, which rose to 20.9 per cent in May compared to 19.6 in April.
Annual restaurants and accommodation services inflation increased to 0.7 per cent from 0.1 per cent while insurance and financial services inflation increased to -0.7 per cent in May compared to -2.3 per cent in April.
Education services inflation increased to 0.6 per cent zero per cent in April.
Ubos in mid-April introduced a new measure of inflation calculation, rising the number of items in a basket to 344 items compared 274, which it had previously used.
Ms Kaudha said annual core inflation during the period increased to 3.1 per cent compared to 2.9 per cent due to an increase in services inflation, which rose to 6.7 per cent in May compared to 6 per cent in April.
Annual inflation of other goods decreased to 0.1 per cent in May compared to 0.3 per cent in April.
Annual non-core inflation dropped to -4.2 per cent compared to -2 per cent in April due to a decrease in annual food crops and related items inflation, which fell to -5.7 per cent in May compared to minus 1.6 per cent in April.
Energy Fuel and Utilities Inflation increased to -2.3 per cent in May compared to -2.4 per cent in April 2021.
