The year-on-year inflation rate for September 2024 surged to 34.3 percent, up from 33.9 percent in August, the Consumer Price Indices of the National Statistics Office (NSO) show.
The September increase is attributed to a rise in food inflation, which rose to 43.5 percent in September from 42 percent in August, while non- food inflation saw a slight decrease from 22.7 percent to 21.8 percent.
The report also highlights a national month-to- month inflation rate of 1.9 percent for September. Food inflation recorded a rate of 2.5 percent, whereas non-food items increased by 0.8 percent.
In urban areas, the overall month-to-month inflation rate was at 1.4 percent, with food and non-food inflation rates at 1.7 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
Rural areas experienced a 2.1 percent month-to-month inflation rate in the month under review, with food inflation at 2.9 percent and non-food inflation at 0.7 percent.
Both the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and the World Bank projected inflation pressure to remain elevated this year due to many factors including El-nino induced agricultural production drop which is exerting pressure on food prices.
Between August 2020 and September 2024, the inflation rate has moved from 7.6 percent to 34.3 percent representing a 26.7 percentage point jump.
