Publications
Partners
Kampala - Uganda's year-on-year (y/y) inflation rate rose for the second straight month in December, driven by rising alcohol, fuel and transport prices, the statistics office said on Monday.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) said overall inflation rose to 5.5% in December from 4.9% a month earlier, while the core rate of inflation, which excludes food crops, fuel, electricity and metered water, climbed to 4.6% from a revised 3.9%.
month-on-month (m/m) inflation was 0.3% compared with 0.6% in November, it said.
"In the non-food category, (the) price index rose by 1.5%. This was driven by increases in prices of alcoholic beverages, clothing, petrol, diesel, kerosene, firewood, transport fares and meals in reasturants," UBOS said in a statement.
Food prices fell 2% y/y in December, the same as in November.
UBOS said the east African economy's average annual inflation rate for the 2012 calendar year was 14.0% compared with 18.7% for 2011.
Price pressures rose to an 18-year record high in October last year when headline inflation hit 30.5%. The central bank jacked up its key lending rate in the second half of 2011 and inflation fell steadily this year, also helped by easing food prices.
In early December, Uganda's central bank trimmed its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 12%, citing sluggish economic growth. The central bank has lopped a total of 11% points off its key rate this year.
