Maputo, Mozambique, 28 March – Consumer prices in Mozambique rose 2.51 percent in February following an increase of 1.79 percent in Januray, the Bank of Mozambique said Monday.

According to its most recent bulletin, the inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose from 11.51 percent in January to 15.25 percent in February.

In 2004, Mozambique’s annual inflation rate was 9.1 percent, but in 2005 it spiked to 14 percent against a government forecast of 8 percent.

The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Adriano Maleiane, recently said inflation control was the central bank’s main priority for 2006.

The Bank of Mozambique also said that in the first half of March the exchange rate for the national currency, the metical, against the world standards currencies had remained stable. (macauhub)