Prices in Cape Verde rise again in July and 9% in a year

Prices in Cape Verde rose 1.2% in July and accumulated a rise of 9% over a year, indicate data from the Cape Verdean National Statistics Institute (INE) compiled by Lusa.

According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by INE and released Friday, this monthly change in July is 0.6 percentage points below the rate recorded in June.

The year-on-year change rate of the total CPI in July was 9%, 0.8 percentage points higher than in the previous month,” says the INE report.

In the same period, the CPI also recorded an average variation of the last 12 months of 6.1%, 0.6 percentage points higher than in June.

Cape Verde closed 2021 with average annual inflation of 1.9%, the highest value since 2013, already influenced by the increase in fuel prices on the international market, according to the Cabo Verdean government.

According to previous data from INE, the archipelago recorded a cumulative annual change in prices of 0.6% in 2020, succeeding a rate of 1.9% in 2019.

Last month, the government admitted that inflation in Cape Verde could reach 8% this year, the highest in the last 25 years, foreseeing effects on purchasing power and a “very strong impact” on the most vulnerable families.

The forecasts were made by the Secretary of State for Finance, Alcindo Mota, in a presentation that preceded a communication from the Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, who on June 20 declared a situation of social and economic emergency in the country due to the impacts of the war in Ukraine.

The figures forecast by the government are higher than those of the Bank of Cape Verde (BCV), which for this year predicts an average inflation rate of 7.3%.

If the inflation rate of 8% in 2022 becomes a reality, it will be the highest value of the last 25 years, only surpassed by 8.7% in 1997, according to INE data.

Cape Verde has no refining capacity and imports all the petroleum products it needs – about 80% of electricity production is guaranteed by diesel or fuel oil plants.

The country also imports 80% of the food due to the drought the archipelago has been experiencing for nearly four years.

With information from Observador