Attachments
Highlights
• The overall inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 10.2% in January, comprised of 12.4% food inflation and 7.9% non-food inflation. This shows a rise in the cost of living by the same rates compared to the same month last year.
• On a month-on-month basis, whole sale maize prices showed an upward trend in January but at a reduced rate. In 20 wholesale markets monitored by EGTE, maize prices increased by an average of 4%; this is a decline from the 6% average month-on-month maize price increase in December. January maize prices decreased in 3 of the 20 markets, remained the same as December prices in 2 markets, but increased in the remaining 15 markets by 2 to15%. Prices were also higher than the long term average: national wholesale maize prices increased by 21%, wheat prices by 30%, and sorghum prices by 24 compared to the long term average.
• On the other hand, wheat prices declined on average by 1% on a month-on-month basis across 20 EGTE monitored markets, indicating the positive impact of the recent harvest as well as imports by the government and aid agencies.
• Pulse prices remained at elevated levels. Compared to last year, whole sale prices in Addis Ababa markets increased by 123% for chickpeas, 80% for, lentils and fava beans and 58% for field peas.
• Retail maize prices showed a mixed trend in Woreda markets in different regions, increasing in some areas, declining in others. For instance, in markets of Yabelo, Ginir, Sinana, Bedeno (Oromia); Korem and Abi Adi (Tigray) and Hawassa and Turmi (SNNP), prices increased by 8% to 20% from the previous month.
• Month-on- month shoats to maize terms of trade deteriorated in Gode (by 10%) while remaining the same in Dire Dawa and Afar markets.
• Due to low demand for unskilled agricultural labor, wage rates and Terms of Trade declined in Amhara and Tigray by 4%.