"We project that the average exchange rate of the national currency will weaken, from 871.5 kwanzas per dollar in 2024, to 927.4 kwanzas per dollar this year, which will keep inflation under pressure," analysts write in the commentary on the evolution inflation in Angola, which rose 28.1 percent last year.
In the analysis, sent to clients and to which Lusa had access, the African department of this British consultancy points to a forecast of inflation slowing to 19.2 percent this year, which compares with the 28.1 percent recorded in average, over the past year.
"Our view is that inflation will continue to fall this year, due to favorable base effects and the lack of pressure from commodity prices," the analysts write, stressing that the devaluation of the national currency, to more than 900 kwanzas per dollar during the second half of last year will help slow inflation this year.
Angola recorded an average inflation of 28.1 percent in 2024, ending the year with a 1.7 percent increase in prices in December compared to November, and a year-on-year increase of 27.5 percent.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, released on Monday at the end of the day, Angolans faced a 27.5 percent rise in prices in December last year, compared to the values of December 2023, while that the index measuring prices rose 1.7 percent in December last year, compared to the previous month.
"The annual variation in December is 27.50 percent, registering an increase of 7.49 percentage points compared to that observed in the same period of the previous year", reads the report on the evolution of prices in Angola, in which it is highlighted that, "comparing the current year-on-year variation [December 2024] with that recorded in the previous month, there is a slowdown of 0.91 percentage points".
In Luanda, the province where prices rose the most in 2024, in December last year, prices were 32.18 percent more expensive than in December 2023, according to INE data, which show an "increase of 6.16 percentage points compared to that observed in the same period of the previous year".
