According to the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (UBS), Uganda’s inflation for August stood at 3.5%, down from 4% recorded in the previous month.
UBS reports that the reduction was partially due to a drop in mobile money (sending) charges.
Mr Samuel Echoku, the head of macroeconomics at the Bureau of Statistics, revealed that mobile money inflation reduced from 13.4% in July to 10.8% in August.
He said that regardless of the significant drop, service costs remain the largest source of inflation which decreased from 6.5% to 6.2%.
Mobile money has proven to be a practical solution for costly transfer fees, though it is marred by taxes and additional charges.
Inflation rates eased in several areas: passenger transport decreased from 8.2% in July to 6.9% in August, while inflation for food and beverage services fell from 3.8% to 2.7%.
Energy, fuel, and utility prices also experienced a drop in inflation, falling from 6.2% in July to 4.7% in August. This decline was driven mainly by a reduction in the cost of liquid energy fuels, which saw inflation fall from 5.1% to 3.8%, and solid fuels, which dropped from 13.3% to 9.4%, due to lower fuel and diesel prices.
