Year-on-year, prices increased further for food & non-alcoholic beverages (1.0 percent compared to 0.4 percent in November); clothing & footwear (3.6 percent compared to 3.3 percent); furnishings & household equipment (4.0 percent compared to 2.9 percent); restaurants & hotels (2.7 percent compared to 1.9 percent); alcoholic beverages & tobacco (2.2 percent compared to 1.6 percent) and miscellaneous goods & services (2.6 percent compared to 1.7 percent). Also, cost of recreation & culture rebounded (0.1 percent compared to -0.7 percent) and prices of communication declined at a softer pace (-2.6 percent compared to -2.7 percent).
On the other hand, cost slowed for housing & utilities (12.1 percent compared to 13.4 percent) and inflation was steady for transport (5.1 percent, the same as in November) and education (at 2.4 percent).
On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.5 percent, after rising 0.3 percent in the prior month, boosted by higher prices of both food namely maize grans (5.5 percent), maize flour (1.2 percent), cassava flour (6.6 pecent), sorghum flour (4.9 percent) and vegetables (3.1 percent) and non-food items, mostly garments for men and women (0.6 percent), garments for children (0.7 percent), petrol (1.7 percent) and diesel (0.9 percent).
Annual core inflation, which excludes food and energy, advanced to 3.1 percent from 2.6 percent in November.
The annual average inflation rate for 2018 was at 3.5 percent, compared to 5.3 percent in the 2017.