Ethiopian Inflation Accelerates to 29.5% as Food Costs Jump

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Inflation in Ethiopia accelerated to 29.5 percent in April as food prices jumped, the Central Statistical Agency said.

The inflation rate increased from 25 percent in March, the Addis Ababa-based agency said on its website today. 

Food prices, which make up more than half of the basket of goods used to calculate overall inflation, surged 32.2 percent from a year earlier, while non-food items rose 25.6 percent, it said.

Annual inflation has quickened from 5.3 percent in August following an 18 percent devaluation of the birr against the dollar on Sept. 1. In January, the government introduced price controls on goods including bread, meat, sugar and beer, citing a lack of competition in the domestic market.

Global food prices have risen this year as U.S. corn stockpiles fell to the lowest since 2007, soybean inventories shrank to the smallest since 2003 amid flooding in Canada, China and Australia and droughts in Russia and Europe. 

The world food- price index tracked by the United Nations’ Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization rose to 232.1 points in April from 231 points in March, having fallen from a record 237.2 in February.

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