Year-on-year, prices slowed for housing & utilities (17.12 percent compared to 17.44 percent in September); transport (15.30 percent compared to 17.29 percent); ); furnishings and household equipment (4.68 percent compared to 4.86 percent); restaurants & hotels (4.32 percent compared to 5.04 percent) and education (4.80 percent compared to 5.04 percent).
Meanwhile, cost rose further for clothing & footwear (4.73 percent compared to 4.58 percent); miscellanous goods & services (4.44 percent compared to 4.30 percent); communication (4.30 percent compared to 0.61 percent); health (5.92 percent compared to 5.90 percent); recreation & culture (1.67 percent compared to 1.61 percent) and alcoholic beverages & tobacco (7.05 percent compared to 6.48 percent). Also, inflation was steady for food and non-alcoholic beverages (at 0.5 percent, the same as in September).
On a monthly basis, consumer prices declined by 0.79 percent, after increasing 1.02 percent in the prior month. Cost of food & non-alcoholic beverages dropped (-1.76 percent compared to 0.37 percent) mostly due to lower prices of maize and maize products. Additionally, prices of transport decreased (-0.86 percent compared to 7.99 percent), due to cost of petrol (-0.9 percent compared to 2.6 percent) and diesel (1.5 percent compared to 5.1 percent). Also, prices of housing & utilities eased (0.20 percent compared to 0.47 percent).