ECONOMY: Inflation soars to 21 percent

Rwanda’s inflation for the month of October has been recorded at 21.9 percent, 1.9 decimals more than that recorded in September. The rise comes, week’s after the government’s efforts of cutting fuel prices. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning James Musoni attributed the inflation increase to the rise in food prices and non alcoholic beverages which have increased by 2.86 percent collectively. According to official figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), in October the general consumer prices index was established at 179.5.? This stands for an increase of 1.21 percent over the previous month which was 177.3. “The main reason for October’s consumer price index topped last months’ was due to rises in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, mainly driven by bread and cereals which increased by 5.98 percent, meat 4.64 percent, fish 3.63 percent and vegetables 3.25 percent,” Minister Musoni said. Official figures also indicate that local goods increased by 1.32 percent last month, while prices of the imported products rose by 0.89 percent. The figures come two months when government reduced fuel prices by Rfw168, a move that was aimed at easing pressure on inflation. “We are confident that in November commodity suppliers will respond positively to the decline in fuel prices,” said Musoni. Already, the transport index has been reduced by 4.4 percent this month after government through Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) persuaded transporters to revise the transport tariffs downwards. “Our projection is to have single digit inflation by mid next year. We are targeting six percent by December 2009,” he added. Musoni said that governments’ intention is to work on the supply side to match demand by attracting more investors especially in the transport, education and agriculture sectors. Recently, the Minister of Commerce Monique Nsanzabaganwa said that in order to curb inflation, government would establish price structures for sensitive products, based on their importance in the household consumption. She said that a number of measures had been taken to curb inflation. They include creating a conducive environment to increase production, creating a competitive business environment, increasing industrial production and closely monitoring agricultural products trade. Ends

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ECONOMY: Inflation soars to 21 percent