Figures from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show that Malawi’s headline inflation eased by 0.3 percentage points to 9.2% in September 2019 from 9.5% in August.

Prior to the development, inflation rate increased from 9% to 9.3%. Food inflation, on the other hand, rose by 0.5 percentage points to 14.2% while non-food inflation rose by 0.1 percentage points to 5.5%.

The new NSO figures show that food inflation stood at 13.9 percent in the month under review from 14.6% in August 2019. This is despite a stable increase in maize prices, Malawi’s staple food, currently trading between K12,500 and K15,000 per 50 Kilogram bag in some parts of the country.

In a monthly economic report dated July 2019, Alliance Capital  said that inflationary pressures from non-food components have remained relatively mute on the back of stable fuel prices, together with the recent appreciation in the exchange rate are expected to remain contained. The firm therefore projected a further increased inflation rate.