Staff Reporter
THE headline annual inflation rate, which reflects overall price changes across all goods and services in the economy, increased to 3.2% during the reviewed period from 3.4% in December 2024, showing a slight decrease in the cost of living.
This was revealed in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) bulletin for December 2025, released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
According to the report, the inflation rate of 3.2% recorded in December 2025 was mainly driven by high costs in ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, which contributed 1.1 percentage points, followed by ‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages’ and ‘Alcoholic beverages and tobacco’, with each contributing 0.5 percentage points.
The highest annual inflation changes were observed in ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ (4.5%); ‘Education’ and ‘Recreation and culture’ recorded 4.3% respectively; while ‘Hotels, cafés and restaurants’ recorded 4.2%, and ‘Alcoholic beverages and tobacco’ recorded 3.7%.
In December 2025, the annual inflation rate for the component consisting of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which makes up 28.4% of the consumer basket, was 4.5%, up from 4.4% in December 2024.
In December 2025, the annual inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic drinks, which make up 16.5% of the NCPI basket, was 2.6%, compared to 5.9% during the same period in 2024. During the period under review, this category experienced a monthly deflation of 0.2%, as opposed to 0.0% in the preceding month.
The transport category, whose weight in the consumer basket is 14.3%, recorded an annual inflation rate of 2.0% in December 2025, compared to a deflation of 1.4% observed in December 2024. The increase was reflected in the subcomponent of ‘Operation of personal transport equipment’ (from -3.4% to 2.4%).
The zonal inflation rates for December 2025 revealed that Zone 2 (Khomas Region) recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 3.3%, followed by Zone 3 (//Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke regions) at 3.2%, while Zone 1 (Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi regions) registered the lowest annual inflation rate at 3.0%.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: Contributed
