Consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, increased by 0.7 per cent year-on-year in November compared to 0.5 per cent the previous year.

According to a report released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR), the increase was mainly due to the rising prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which increased by 2.9 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively.

The underlying inflation rate, excluding fresh food and energy, decreased by 0.2 per cent when compared to October and increased by 2.9 per cent when compared to November 2013.

Sebastian Manzi, the director of economic statistics department at NISR, said the annual average underlying inflation rate was established at 2.7 per cent during this period.

The biggest negative contribution came from food and non-alcoholic beverages, which registered only 0.9 percentage points, according to the report.

On an annual basis, the local goods index increased by 0.5 per cent, the imported goods index by 1.3 per cent, while the fresh products index decreased by 8.5 per cent, and the energy index increased by 0.7 per cent.

The report further indicated that the core index or the general index, excluding fresh products and energy, increased by 2.9 per cent.

On a monthly basis, the local goods index decreased by 0.6 per cent, while the imported goods index decreased by 1.0 per cent.

Fresh products index decreased by 3.2 per cent with the energy index decreasing by 0.5 per cent.

The Urban Consumer Price Index is calculated based on about 1,022 products in 12 urban centres in the country.