Inflation increases to 30 percent

Inflation in Malawi shot up to 30 percent in August, from its July level of 26 percent, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Monday in its economic bulletin. AFP reported that the increase came at a crucial time, as the impoverished nation prepared to import 180,000 mt of maize this year to ward off massive hunger.

According to the report, the NSO attributed the rise to a decision by the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) to increase the consumer price of the staple maize from US $3 to US $13 in August. Inflation in Malawi is traditionally depressed for seven months after the maize harvest, but rises during the planting and growing season, the report said.

Meanwhile the Malawi government said on Monday that the state and donors would spend US $8 million on free agricultural inputs for one million rural households. AFP reported that the inputs included free fertiliser and seed, to be given to villagers to spur maize production next year and to ease food shortages. “About one million households will benefit from this scheme. We hope for a good season,” Ellard Malindi, principal secretary in the ministry of agriculture, was quoted as saying. He said the government, the European Union and Britain would sponsor the free packages to mostly poor villagers.