Uganda’s January inflation rises to 3.6%

Uganda’s annual inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for the 12 months to January 2025 increased to 3.6 percent compared to the 3.3 percent registered in the year ended December 2024.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), the main driver is the Annual Other Goods Inflation recorded in tomatoes, fish, passenger transport, and hotel and lodging services.

Smoked tilapia prices registered 17.8 percent in January 2025 compared to 8.9 percent recorded in December 2024, new clothing prices registered 6.2 percent in January 2025 compared to 3.9 percent registered in December 2024. Other notable price increases were sugar and laundry bar soap.

In addition, Annual Services Inflation was recorded at 6.3 percent in January 2025 compared to 6.1 percent registered in December 2024. This was mainly due to passenger transport services inflation registered at 2 1 percent in the year ending January 2025 compared to 2.0 percent registered in the year ended December 2024 and Hotel and Lodging Service charges, registered at 8.0 percent in the year ending January 2025 compared to 7.3 percent registered in the year ended December 2024.

Annual Food Crops and Related Items Inflation recorded 0.2 percent in the year ending January 2025 compared to minus 0.7 percent registered in the year ended December 2024. This was mainly attributed to a rise in the prices of tomatoes by 3.5 percent compared to minus 14.4 percent in December 2024, avocado by 11.2 percent compared to minus 5.2 percent in December 2024 and Fresh Leaf Vegetables – Nakati, Dodo, Bbugga prices decreased by minus 1.9 percent compared to minus 11.6 percent in December 2024, Round Onions prices by minus 11.0 percent compared to minus 16.5 percent in December 2024.

Annual Energy Fuel and Utilities (EFU) Inflation recorded 0.3 percent in the year ending January 2025 compared to 1.0 percent registered in the year ended December 2024. This was mainly due to Solid fuels inflation recorded at 7.6 percent in January 2025 compared to 10.9 percent registered in December 2024.

Particularly, Firewood prices increased by 18.8 percent in January 2025 compared to 26.9 percent recorded in December 2024 and Charcoal prices increased by 3.1 percent in January 2025 compared to 4.9 percent recorded in December 2024. Electricity charges recorded minus 1.9 percent in January 2025 compared to minus 0.7 percent recorded in December 2024. Liquid Energy Fuels Inflation recorded minus 7.5 percent in the year ending January 2025 compared to minus 8.5 percent registered in the year ended December 2024 driven mainly by Petrol prices that decreased by minus 9.3 percent in January 2025 compared to minus 10.6 percent in December 2024, Diesel prices by minus 7.2 percent compared to minus 7.8 percent in December 2024 and Kerosene prices by minus 2.9 percent compared to minus 3.7 percent in December 2024.