Less bang for your buck

By: JO-MARÉ DUDDY

Less bang for your buck

Less bang for your buck
The N$10 note in your wallet in December 2001 had shrunk to a N$5 coin by August 2012, Aloysius Tsheehama, chief statistician at the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), said analysing the latest inflation figures.
The Namibia dollar losing 50 per cent of its purchasing power means that you now need double the money to buy the same basket of goods you did in December 2001, Tsheehama said.
A quick look at the special offers advertised in the newspapers of December 2001 shows that you could buy a litre of fruit juice with a N$10 note and still get more than N$5 in change. Last month, the exact same product, on special, cost you N$9,99.
Similarly, a bottle of tomato sauce cost you N$7,99 in December 2001. In August, the best bargain on tomato sauce was N$10,99. A kilogram bag of frozen vegetables set you back N$8,99 a decade ago. Last month, you had to fork out between N$20,99 and N$24,99.
Looking at price movements in August, Tsheehama said Namibia’s annual inflation rate for the month had dropped from 6,0 per cent in July to 5,8 per cent.
Month-on-month, basis inflation also slowed, down from 1,0 per cent in July to 0,3 per cent in August.

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