Uganda’s inflation has continued to trend upward for a second consecutive month, fuelled by rising food crop prices, that have seen annual headline inflation for the year ending April 2017 rising to 6.8 per cent compared to 6.4 per cent for the year ended March 2017.

According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos), the increase was due to the annual food crops inflation which rose to 21.6 per cent for the year ending April 2017 compared to 20.9 per cent recorded for the year ended March 2017.

The shift was blamed on prolonged drought the country experienced, which resulted into poor crop harvest.

Ubos director macroeconomic statistics Chris N Mukiza, while releasing the Consumer Price Index in Kampala last week, said: “The rise in annual food crops inflation was mainly due to the vegetables inflation that increased t0 14.0 per cent for the year ending April 2017 compared to the 11.9 per cent registered during the year ended March 2017.”

Dr Mukiza said fruits inflation registered a 35.5 per cent for the year ending April 2017, the same rate recorded for the year ended March 2017.