Last month, figures from the Monetary Policy Committee showed that annual inflation for 2020 has been projected at 9.8%, which is 0.4 percentage points higher than the 9.4% obtained in 2019. However, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has projected that Malawi’s average annual inflation could rise to 12.2%, attributed to import supply disruptions as Covid-19.

Meanwhile, President Lazarus Chakwera, in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered in Parliament last Friday, quoted the 12.2% as the possible annual inflation rate for 2020.

Last year, Malawi attained a single-digit annual average inflation rate of 9.4%, as headline inflation declined to an average of 8.9% in the second quarter of 2020 from an average of 10.6% in the first quarter, on the back of weakening food and domestic pump fuel prices.