Malawi’s year-on-year headline inflation rate continues to rise and hit a 10-year high of 29.2 percent in May pushed up by continued rise in food prices, figures show.

This is the highest recorded inflation rate after it hit 35.8 percent in April 2013 during the reign of former president Joyce Banda when the impact of 45 percent devaluation of the kwacha was being felt.

Inflation has risen without interruption from 7.6 percent single-digit bracket in August 2020 to the current rate.

National Statistical Office (NSO) data published yesterday shows that when compared to April this year, the rate of the increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period, rose by 0.4 percentage points from 28.8 percent.

During the period under review, food inflation rate rose to 38.8 percent from 37.9 percent in April while non-food inflation rate declined by 0.1  percentage points to 18.4 percent from 18.5 percent in April.

The constant rise in inflation has in the process continued to devour households, with consumers indicating that their lives have become unbearable.

Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said in an interview yesterday that consumers are worse-off than they were in the past year owing as the rise in commodity prices, that have eroded their incomes.

He said: “Consumers are witnessing the sharpest rise ever seen and sadly the trend seems it would continue as the country seems to have no strategies to calm it.

“There seems to be no room for deliberate strategies to assist consumers as our economy does not have any coping mechanisms for consumers and more especially the poor.”

Economist Edward Chilima in an interview yesterday observed that it is not surprising that the inflation rate remains high despite the onset of the harvesting period.

“This harvesting period is a complete shift from previous ones given the high farm-gate prices set by government. This is as a result of a unique season where fertiliser prices, hence production costs, have been high. 

“We, therefore, expect continued inflation increases as most commodity prices are expected to increase as we go off season, maize specifically. With the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation not yet buying maize, this also threatens the prices in the medium-terms,” he said.

Chilima said the foreign exchange instability is also likely to have a bearing on inflation going forward as imports become more expensive due to forex scarcity.

He said: “We, therefore, expect more pressure on the kwacha given the developments in the agricultural harvest spectrum and also from forex shortage induced inflation challenges.

“The situation can, however, be contained but subject to interventions aimed at promoting exports but also ensuring we have plenty in the next season.”

In Malawi, maize, as part of the food component, accounts for about 53.7 percent of the consumer price index, an aggregate basket of goods and services used for computing inflation.

The Reserve Bank of Malawi has since warned that the country’s inflation rate faces considerable risks which could keep it elevated further than projected, according to its April Market Intelligence Report.

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