The consumer price index of households in Mali in October 2020 saw an increase of 2.0% compared to the previous month, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT).

This index stood at 105.0 against 102.9 in September 2020. " Compared to July 2020, prices increased by 2.3% ," says inSTAT. Compared to October 2019, it was recorded a slight increase of 4.4%.

The underlying index (evolution of the general price level excluding fresh products and energy) was slightly higher than in September by 0.5%. Compared to the same month of the previous year, it saw a slight increase of 1.1%.

During the period under review, INSTAT argues that the increase in the general price level in Mali is essentially linked to the increase in the prices of a number of functions. This was the case for food and non-alcoholic beverages , which increased by 2.5% due to higher prices for unprocessed cereals (0.5%), other fresh fruit (8.8%), oils (3.1%)  and salt, spices, sauces and food products n.e.s. (28.1%).

The increase in this function is explained by the decrease in stocks of cereals, tubers and oilseeds.

As for the Housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels function , it increased by 5.8% in line with the increase in the prices of solid fuels and other items (8.2%). According to INSTAT , " the strong demand for solid and other fuels has contributed to the increase in prices for this function ".

On the other hand, the Clothing and footwear function saw a slight decrease of 0.1% in connection with the increase in prices for women's top garments (0.6%), Women's clothing and repair (1.6%).

For its part, the Transport function recorded an increase of 0.7% in line with the rise in prices for maintenance and repair of passenger vehicles (0.3%) and Other services relating to personal vehicles (4.1%).

In the Leisure and Culture function , there was an increase of 1.4% due to the increase in prices for garden products, plants and flowers, pets and related articles and other pet services (4.0%)

During the month of October, the prices of fresh products rose slightly by 2.7% and those of energy by 5.1% ; in one year, the prices of fresh products rose by 9.4% and at the same time those of energy by 4.7%.

As for provenance, INSTAT notes that the prices of both local and imported products increased by 2.4% and 0.5% respectively. In one year, an increase of 6.5% was observed for local products and a decrease of 0.7% for imported products.

In terms of sectoral membership, the prices of products in the three sectors (primary, secondary and tertiary) rose by 3.3%, 1.2% and 1.4% respectively. In one year, the prices of products in the Primary sector increased by 10.8% and those of the Secondary by 2.2% against a decrease of 0.9% for the Tertiary sector.

As for sustainability, the prices of non-durable and semi-durable goods increased by 1.9% and 1.9% against a decline in durable goods of 1.6%. In one year, non-durable goods rose by 5.9% and semi-durable goods by 2.3% while durable goods fell by 2.5%.  

The WAEMU Community Convergence Indicator (which measures the average change in prices over the last twelve months compared to the previous twelve months) was -0.4% for the Mali national level. That of the WAEMU is at 1.3% for the month of September 2020.