Ethiopia’s inflation inches down to 34.5% in January

 Ethiopia’s year-on-year inflation (ETCPIY=ECI) edged down to 34.5% in January from 35.1% in the previous month, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

Inflation in the Horn of Africa nation has soared since the second half of last year, partly due to fighting in the north between federal troops and Tigrayan forces.

On a monthly basis, inflation fell to 1.2% in January from 1.4% a month earlier, the Central Statistics Agency said in a statement.

The World Food Programme estimated in early December that 13.6 million people were food insecure in Ethiopia because of the extended impacts of conflict, drought, flooding, desert locust invasions, market disruptions, high food prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.