Transport inflation hits 15%

Public transport costs in Namibia rose sharply in September, adding to pressure on household budgets as annual inflation accelerated to 5.4%.

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said inflation for public transport services reached 15% year-on-year in September, compared with 0.9% a year earlier.

Air transport recorded the biggest increase at 22.1%, followed by rail transport at 15.7%. Taxi fares rose by 15.4%, while bus fares increased by 12.6%.

The increases formed part of a broader surge in transport costs, which recorded annual inflation of 14.9% in September, up from 1.3% a year earlier.

Transport was the largest contributor to the country’s annual inflation rate, accounting for 2.2 percentage points of the 5.4% headline figure.

The NSA's figures show that the rise in transport costs was also driven by the operation of personal transport equipment, where annual inflation reached 20.1%.

Within that category, the petrol and diesel subcomponent recorded annual inflation of 30.4%, compared with a decline of 2.1% a year earlier.

Despite the sharp rise in annual transport inflation, monthly price growth in the category slowed to 1.9% in September, from 3.7% in August.

Overall monthly inflation also eased, falling to 0.4% from 0.6% in August.