By Mabinty M. Kamara
Data on the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of May 2021 released by Statistics Sierra Leone has revealed an increase in the inflation rate from 9.60 percent point in April to 9.80 percentage points in May, up by 0.20 percentage points.
However, the country still maintains its single-digit inflation rate recorded in the month of March 2021, a figure that was reported by officials, as the lowest in six years.
“Key findings of May 2021 CPI shows that annual national inflation (year-on-year) stood at 9.80 percent, up by 0.20 percentage points from 9.60 percent in April 2021; and the monthly inflation is 0.44 percent down by 2.29 percentage points from 2.73 percent in April 2021,” the report reads.
The National Consumer Price Index is the measure of the average price level of selected goods and services in the country. The inflation rate is the percentage rate between the CPI of any two periods which could be monthly, quarterly, and yearly, known as Year-on-year
According to the report, Food, and non-alcoholic beverages increased from 15.64 percent in April 2021 to 17.56 percent in May 2021. The inflation rate increased by 1.92 percentage point’s year-on-year while the inflation rate of Restaurant and Hotels increased by 3.09 percentage point’s year-on-year and from -0.45 percent in April 2021 to 2.64 percent in May 2021.
However, inflation in clothing and footwear declined by 4.06 percentage points from 10.55 percent in April 2021 to 6.49 percent in May 2021.
The report noted that the prices for the CPI are collected for 437 items at the prevailing retail market prices from six (6) markets in Freetown and three (3) markets each in Bo, Kenema, Makeni, and Kono, for weekly prices. Prices are also collected from other outlets for monthly items whose prices are less likely to fluctuate weekly.
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