Annual inflation rose by 8.23% in May this year, compared to the same period in 2022.

According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) collected last May, food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport were the divisions with the highest price rises.

The INE also says that the cost of various goods and services has risen considerably. From April to May. The variation stood at 0.39%, when compared to the same time in 2022.

Also in this variation, the food and non-alcoholic beverages division stood out with a rise of around 0.46 percentage points (pp).

"Looking at the monthly variation by product, it's worth noting the fall in the prices of tomatoes (4.5%), coconuts (14.5%), corn (7.1%), cabbage (7.8%), gasoline (1.1%), lettuce (7.2%) and cabbage (9.2%). These contributed around 0.54pp to the total monthly change," reads INE's Consumer Price Index.

The document highlights that some products, especially onions, diesel, curtains, complete sets of sofas, cell phones, complete restaurant meals and chairs, have bucked the downward trend in prices.

"Some products, especially onions (12.5%), diesel (4.9%), curtains (23.3%), complete sets of sofas (4.8%), cell phones (2.1%), complete restaurant meals (0.3%) and chairs (2.3%), bucked the downward trend in prices by contributing around 0.21pp to the total monthly change", reveals INE.

Looking at the monthly variation by the cities that served as reference for the price change, Inhambane Province stood out with a drop of 0.75%, followed by the cities of Tete with 0,69%, Quelimane with 0.68%, Xai-xai with 0.50%, Chimoio with 0.37%, Maputo with 0.35%, Beira with 0.14% and Nampula with 0.08%, according to INE.

Also according to the source, the province of Inhambane once again had the highest increase in the general price level, with around 11.85%.

"The cities of Tete with 10.66%, Quelimane with 10.61%, Chimoio with 8.17%, Beira with 7.82%, Maputo with 7.37%, Xai-xai with 6.30% and Nampula with 5.94%," are the ones that follow according to the document.

As for the accumulated variation, the data for the month under review shows that the country recorded a price increase of around 3.16%.

The Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Transportation divisions saw the biggest price increases, contributing 2.11pp and 0.28pp respectively.