According to the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistic the annual rate of inflation in June 2012 went down from 18.2% to 17.4% in the last 12 months, mainly due to the dropping price of rice.
Likewise the food and hotel inflation index slightly dropped to 22.9% from 24.5% and the energy inflation index reduced to 20.5% from 21.2%. Non-food inflation stayed flat at 10.5%.
The National Bureau of Statistic also published the annual inflation rates of neighboring countries with Uganda and Burundi showing similar rate with 18%, and 17.3% respectively, while Kenya and Zambia economies performing better with an annual inflation rate of 10.05% and 6.7% respectively.
According to Dr William Mgimwa, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs during a recent parliamentary session “The food basket is pushed up mainly by the demand of rice”.
He also added that “Costs of production have been very high due to the dependence of furnace oil and diesel to generate electricity and the competition of the gas pipeline will reduce this dependence a great deal”.
He stressed that the Government of Tanzania is committed to fighting inflation by reducing structural based costs (i.e. infrastructural costs) that constitute the main input expenses that push up inflation.
