Relief as inflation in Zanzibar falls to 4.1 percent

Commodity prices have dropped in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago from 5.4 percent in June to 4.1 percent in July, this year, a senior official said Wednesday.

Unveiling monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), head of the statistics unit, in the Office of Chief Government Statistician (OCGS), Salma Saleh Ali, attributed the fall to the declining prices on food products.

She said that food prices in the Indian Ocean Island have dropped to about 2.7 percent in July compared to June where it was at 4.6 percent.

Citing the price of rice from south western Tanzania’s region of Mbeya, the Zanzibar official said that the price dropped by 5.6 percent in July from 9.5 percent in June, this year, basmati rice has reached 1.9 percent in July from 2.9 percent in June. Maize flour dropped to 43.4percent in July from 60.9 percent in June.

However, the situation is different in the fishing sector, whereby the price of fish has increased to 7.9 percent in July from 7.5 percent in June.

The statistician said that for non-food goods, the inflation has dropped to 5.7 percent in July from 6.7 percent in June. Enditem

Source: Xinhua/