Prices in Mozambique fell for a second consecutive month in August, declining 0.28% month-on-month — slightly more than the 0.26% deflation recorded in July. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), year-on-year inflation also slowed, easing from 7.48% to 6.45%, while cumulative inflation since January fell from 5.12% to 4.83%.
The monthly price decline was driven primarily by the food and non-alcoholic beverages category, which subtracted 0.33 percentage points from the overall index. Among the products contributing most to the decline were tomatoes (-16.3%), lettuce (-9.8%), onions (-2.8%), butter beans (-1.6%), cabbage (-6.7%), horse mackerel (-0.6%), and full meals at restaurants (-0.3%).
In aggregate, these products removed approximately 0.38 percentage points from the monthly price movement. In the opposite direction, prices rose for cement (3.1%), dried mango (53.0%), live chicken (1.4%), grain maize (3.1%), dried fish (0.5%), fresh fish (0.6%), and dried shrimp (3.3%). Together, these items added around 0.14 percentage points to monthly inflation.
The renewed price decline brought cumulative inflation since the start of the year down from 5.12% in July to 4.83% in August. Over the same period, year-on-year inflation fell from 7.48% to 6.45%, reflecting the second successive monthly price drop and a broader easing of inflationary pressures.
Despite the overall improvement, transport and food and non-alcoholic beverages remain the categories exerting the greatest upward pressure on prices. In cumulative terms, they contributed 2.05 and 1.52 percentage points respectively. On a year-on-year basis, these two categories recorded price increases of 14.77% and 8.91% respectively.
Between January and August, the main contributors to cumulative price increases were diesel, urban and suburban semi-collective passenger transport, fresh fish, petrol, taxi services, kale, and dried fish. Together, these goods and services accounted for approximately 2.82 percentage points of cumulative inflation.
Monthly price declines were recorded in every city monitored by INE. Xai-Xai posted the sharpest monthly drop at 1.21%, followed by Beira (0.51%), Nampula (0.32%), and Tete (0.29%), while Maputo and Quelimane both registered a fall of 0.12%. On a year-on-year basis, Tete retained the highest inflation rate at 10.71%, followed by Inhambane (8.32%) and Chimoio (8.25%), while Maputo recorded the lowest rate at 4.08%.
In 2025, prices in Mozambique have risen 3.23% according to earlier INE data. In 2024, cumulative inflation stood at 4.15%, below the 5.3% recorded in 2023 and well down from the near-13% peak reached in July 2022. At its July 2025 meeting, Banco de Moçambique held its benchmark interest rate at 9.25%, acknowledging short-term inflationary pressures while projecting that inflation would remain in single digits over the medium term.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/11/economia/ine-precos-voltam-a-recuar-em-agosto/
