Inflation Rears Its Head, Again

Headline inflation hits a record high in five years, reaching 15.6pc in the month of February 2018, latest consumer price index from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA). The rate, which demonstrates the cost of living, has shown a 2.2 percentage point increase from last month, driven by a surge in food and non-food inflation, which spiked to 20.9pc and 9.8pc, respectively. The swell was attributed to the two-fold price rise of salt and spices, especially pepper whole, which is locally known as berbere, according to CSA. Though the government targets to limit the inflation to single digits, headline inflation has been in the double digits since August 2017. It also started to show a fast increase since October 2017, a month which was marked by the devaluation of the Birr by 15pc.