- Ethiopia has recorded a slight drop in its inflation to 34.5 percent in January of 2022, from 35.1 percent in December.
- According to data made available by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, the December inflation was Ethiopia’s highest inflation rate since February 2012 driven by surging prices of food staples such as vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, spices, coffee and non-alcoholics.
- Food prices rose to 41.6% in December, from 28.9% in November last year.
Ethiopia has recorded a slight drop in its inflation to 34.5 percent in January of 2022, from 35.1 percent in December. According to data made available by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, the December inflation was Ethiopia’s highest inflation rate since February 2012 driven by surging prices of food staples such as vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, spices, coffee and non-alcoholics. Food prices rose to 41.6% in December, from 28.9% in November last year.
The high inflation is only a part of the economic cost of the fighting in the northern part of the country between federal troops and Tigrayan forces. The war has disrupted both farming activities and supply chains in the country. According to the World Food Programme projection in early December, 13.6 million were food insecure due to drought, flooding, high food prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. The weakening of the Ethiopian currency (birr) against the dollar over the past one year, also contributed to inflation. To add to the distress, Ethiopia was officially delisted from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which can have disastrous effects on its exports and employment.
