Mozambique accentuated deflation (price reduction) in June compared to the previous month, from 0.31% to 0.52% announced on Friday the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The basket used to calculate Mozambique's Consumer Price Index (CPI) has fallen for the third consecutive month.

According to Lusa, accumulated inflation in the first six months of 2021 thus retreated to 2.53%.

As in the previous month, "the 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' division was the most prominent, contributing about 0.57 percentage points to the total monthly change," according to the CPI bulletin released Friday.

In Maputo, the cost of the CPI basket fell by 0.31%, while in Nampula there was a reduction of 0.63%, INE added.

Despite the monthly price reduction, year-on-year inflation in the country advanced three basis points from 5.49% (in May) to 5.52%, 

Mozambique's 12-month average inflation has been rising since April 2020 and in June stood at 4.16% (up from 3.92% in May)

Mozambique ended 2020 with a cumulative inflation of 3.52%.

The CPI figures are calculated from the price variations of a basket of goods and services, with data collected in the cities of Maputo, Beira, and Nampula.