Inflation in Uganda dropped to 4.8 percent year-on-year in October, from 5.3 percent a month earlier, the Uganda Bureau of Statistcis (Ubos) says.
According to the latest report released by Ubos, core inflation, which excludes food, electricity and metered water, went down from 4.2 percent to 3.5 percent during the same period. Ubos attributes the decline to the reduction in the prices of services as they came down to 2.3 percent in October from 4.1 percent recorded for the year ended September 2017.
The Annual Food Crops Inflation declined to 7.8 percent for the year ending October 2017 compared to the 9.6 percent recorded for the year ended September 2017. This is mainly attributed to the fall in the prices of vegetable and fruits in the month October as more arrived in the markets.
Meanwhile, the annual energy, fuels and utilities (EFU) inflation increased to 14.1 percent for the year ending October 2017 compared to 10.6 percent recorded for the year ended September 2017. This was attributed to increases in the prices of charcoal and firewood as little arrived in the markets. Price changes of charcoal and firewood increased to 25.0 percent for the year ending October 2017 compared to 15.0 percent recorded for the year ended September 2017.
However, Liquid Energy Fuels inflation (diesel, petrol, paraffin) declined to 5.3 percent for the year ending October 2017 compared to 5.5 percent recorded in September 2017. This was because the products were available on market in sufficient volumes to cover consumers.
According to the report Fort Portal, Gulu and Arua towns registered the highest annual inflation in October of 8.1 percent, 7.0 percent and 6.7 percent respectively. But these were lower than the September points of 8.9 percent, 8.8 percent and 9.0 percent respectively.
Compared to other towns surveyed in October, the report says, Jinja, Masaka, Mbarara and Kampala had the lowest inflation of 3.1 percent, 4.4 percent, 4.8 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. The figures came down as the supply of goods and services increased bringing down prices.
