More pain for Malawias as cost of living continue to rise
The Roman Catholic body called Centre for Social Concern (CFSC), that come up with monthly surveys of cost of living in Malawi has said its cost of living survey in Mzuzu, Zomba, Blantyre and Lilongwe shows the cost of living is continuing to soar.
CFSC said an average family of six had to spend more money in December 2011 compared to the same month in 2010.
The average expenses for December 2010 was K45,580 but increased to an average of K62,000.
CFSC pools together a basic needs basket that has food and non-food items of school fees, bus fares, rent water and electricity bills.
It said for family of six to survive in Mzuzu they had to spend K61,173 on basic commodities, Zomba they spent K60,080, Lilongwe was the most expensive city at K69,303 and Blantyre at K65,000.
However, CFSC said the expenses are against stagnant monthly earnings of individuals in the four cities.
They said another survey revealed that gross salaries for city dwellers was between K19,887 to K64,860.
CFSC said December, 2011 food prices increased most due to the hiking of maize price by government from K2,000 to K3,000.
Overall, consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose with costs of goods reaching almost record levels.
