The most recent figures from the National Statistical Office (NSO) show that Malawi’s headline inflation inched up by 0.4 percentage points to 9.6% in October 2019 from 9.2% in September.

However, the Reserve Bank of Malawi has maintained that despite fluctuations in the inflation trends, it will achieve 5% inflation by first quarter of 2021.

Still, a recently published Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Harmonised Consumer Price Index (CPI) Monthly News Release revealed that Malawi’s current inflation rate is twice lower than the average inflation rate set by the Comesa. Currently, Comesa’s average inflation rate is set at 23.4% average.

NSO figures show that in October, The NSO figures show that food inflation went up from 13.9% in September to 16.0%. Non-food Inflation decreased to 4.3% from 5.4% in the preceding two months.