Southern regions dig deepest for beef stew

Consumers in zone three, comprising the ||Kharas, Erongo, Hardap and Omaheke regions, paid the highest price for beef stew at N$113.96 per kilogramme during the month of February.

According to the Namibia Consumer Price Index (NCPI) bulletin for February 2026 released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), they were followed by consumers in zone one comprising the Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi regions who paid N$108.99, while zone two consumers in the Khomas region paid the lowest price for beef stew at N$104.19.

The NSA says meat price levels increased by 3% compared to 8.1% recorded in February 2025, with the slow increase reflected in the prices of beef from 13.6% to 1.3%, pork from 5.9% to 0.4%, biltong from 7.0% to 2.9% and canned meat from 4.9% to 0.9%.
In addition, zone three paid the highest price for a 750ml bottle of sunflower cooking oil at N$34.79, followed by zone two at N$33.99, while zone one recorded the lowest price at N$32.78.

“This has contributed to the headline annual inflation rate of 2.4% during the period under review, compared to 3.6% recorded in February 2025,” the bulletin says.

According to the analysis, the zonal inflation rates for February 2026 shows that zone two registered the highest annual inflation rate at 3.5% followed by zone three at 2.5% while zone one recorded the lowest annual inflation rate at 1.4%.

The NSA says the major contributors to the 2.4% annual inflation rate for February were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which contributed 1.2 percentage points, followed by alcoholic beverages and tobacco recording 0.5 percentage points and then food and non-alcoholic beverages that contributed 0.3 percentage points.

“Together, these groupings made up 2% of the 2.4% annual inflation rate,” says the bulletin.

The highest annual inflation rates were recorded in the hotels, cafés and restaurants division at 4.8%; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 4.7%; health at 4.0%; recreation and culture with 3.9%; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house with 3.5%; and alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 3.4%, while all other groups recorded inflation rates below 3% each.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages, which carry a weight of 16.5% in the NCPI basket, recorded an annual inflation rate of 1.6% in February 2026, down from 5.9% for the same period in 2025.

“On a monthly basis, this category recorded an increase of 0.5%, compared to a 0.3% increase recorded in the previous month,” says the bulletin.

Food as a sub-category makes up 14.8% of the total consumer basket in the NCPI, whereas, bread and cereals account for the largest weight of up to 4.8% of food items purchased by households, followed by meat at 3.5%; sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery at 1.4%; and vegetables and milk, cheese and eggs coming in at 1.2% each.

The NSA says the transport category, which carries a weight of 14.3% in the consumer basket, recorded a deflation of 1% in February 2026, compared to a 1.3% increase observed in February 2025.

“The decrease was reflected in the sub-component ‘operation of personal transport equipment’, which dropped from 1.1% to -2.1%,” says the bulletin.

On a monthly basis, this category decreased to -1.2% in February, from 0% recorded in the previous month.
– Email: matthew@namibian.com.na

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