Cost of Living Jumps to 22.6pc

Apr 4 , 2020


Headline inflation, an indicator of the cost of living, continues to spike and reached the highest rate in six years when it hit a rate of 22.6pc last month, according to the latest Consumer Price Index from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA). Driven by inflation in food prices, the rate has shown a 0.8 percentage point rise from the previous month. Last month, food inflation jumped close to two percentage points to 26.9pc, while non-food inflation showed a slight decline to 17.6pc. March's rate, which came out after Ethiopia confirmed its first case of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), is the second highest jump in six years next to the 22.2pc rate that was registered in 2014. Except for wheat, the price of almost all cereals increased, especially that of teff, maize and sorghum, according to the report.


Radar

Coffee Exports Bring in $1.5B in Third Quarter

Ethiopia has earned 1.5 billion dollars from coffee exports over the nine months of the fiscal year. The country had set a target to earn a little over a billion dollars by exporting 201,959tns of coffee during the same period. According to Adugna Debella (PhD), director general of the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority, the export strategy continues to focus on major international markets, with the top 10 destinations, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the United States (SU), accounting...


Radar

Central Bank Holds Fourth Exchange Auction

The National Bank of Ethiopia(NBE) sold one dollar for 131.4961 birr in its recent auction. It was reported that 26 banks participated in this auction, which took place last week on Thursday. In a statement issued by the National Bank  following the auction, it was indicated that 70 million dollars was offered for the event. Subsequently, it was reported that 96 pc of the foreign exchange needs of the participating banks were met. In the previous auction, held 15 days ago, the bank had of...


Radar

City Registers 64,075 Births in Fiscal Year

The city has exceeded its birth registration target for the first nine months of the fiscal year, registering 64,075 children—71.15pc more than the set goal of 58,342. This success, with a registration coverage rate of 109.63pc, is largely attributed to the efficiency of the one-centre birth registration service system, which has been rolled out across health centres and courts. The total number of vital events registered, including births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths, reache...