ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s inflation rate eased marginally in February, thanks to slowing price rises of some non-food items while food price rises continue to accelerate, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
Inflation was 33.6% in February from 34.5% the previous month, the statistics office said in a statement.
On a monthly basis, inflation was 3.4% from 1.2% in January.
Food inflation rose to 4.8% in February from 0.8% a month earlier while non-food inflation was 1.4% from 1.6% in January, due to falling transport and telecommunication prices, the statistics office said.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says at least 20.4 million people need food assistance in Ethiopia, including those displaced by fighting in the country’s northern region and drought in the south and south east.
The conflict has led to farmers missing the harvest season and due to trade disruptions, markets were collapsing, the WFP said.
The country is also grappling with impacts of flooding, desert locust invasions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; editing by John Stonestreet and Elaine Hardcastle)
