The annual inflation rate for January 2008 stood at 7.8%, compared to 7.1% in December and 6% during the same period last year. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the annual inflation rates for the major groups comprising the NCPI were Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (15%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (2.9%) and Transport (7.6%).

The Bureau said the year 2008 opened with the monthly inflation rate of 1.5% an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the December 2008 rate of 0.3%. This increase resulted from monthly increases in the subgroups Indices of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Alcoholic Beverages and Tabacco, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance, Health, Transport, Communications, Recreations and Culture as well as Education, Hotels, Cafes and Restaurants, Miscellaneous Goods and Services.
The All Items Index for January 2008 increased by 2.2 percentage points up from 141.9 in December 2007 to 144.1
The index for Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages for January 2008 increased to 161.7 a monthly increase of 3.2 percentage points from 158.5 recorded in December 2007. This increase were due to increases recorded in the subgroups of Fish (5.5%), Vegetables including potatoes and other tubers (5%), Oils and Fats (4.2%), Meat (3.1%), Fruit (2.9%) as well as Sugar, jam, honey, syrup, chocolate and confectionery (2.5%).
In January, the Bank of Namibia said the risks to the inflation outlook remain on balance slightly tilted to the upside, especially the pressure stemming from the latest increase in the South African Producer Price Index (PPI). The PPI, a leading indicator for consumer price inflation both in South Africa and in Namibia, accelerated from 9.1 percent in November to 10.3 percent in December 2007. However, it is expected that crude oil prices would subside, amid fears that the US economy is heading for a recession, the bank said.
The bank added that local domestic demand conditions are continuing to moderate, thus the risks to inflation from these components have eased.  Domestic inflation has, nevertheless, increased, primarily because of transport inflation, the bank noted. This could, however, mainly be attributed to high crude oil prices that prevailed in the last quarter of 2007, coupled with high food prices.
The risks of increasing food prices due to the rise in the demand for bio-fuels and drought, therefore, remain tilted to the upside. Oil prices are, nevertheless, expected to subside in the latter part of the year, mainly because of the slowing demand in the world economy, the bank said.