Ethiopia inflation falls to 16.5pc in Feb

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia's annual inflation rate dipped to 16.5 percent in February from 17.7 percent in the previous month as food prices rose more slowly, the horn of Africa country's statistics office said on Monday.

The fall in the rate followed two months of rises. Ethiopia has placed price caps on more than a dozen commodities including some essential foodstuffs.

Government officials have accused traders of artificially inflating food prices on the back of higher global prices and a September devaluation of the birr currency.

Food prices, which carry the biggest weighting in the basket used to measure inflation, rose by 12.8 percent during the month, down from an increase of 13.6 percent in the previous month, the statistics office said.