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Sierra Leone’s annual consumer price inflation rose for the second consecutive month, reaching 10.83 percent in April 2026, up from 10.24 percent in March, according to data released Friday by Statistics Sierra Leone.
The monthly inflation rate stood at 1.37 percent in April, a sharp decline from 2.28 percent recorded in March.
The increase in annual inflation was driven largely by sharp rises in housing and transport costs.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels — which account for 8.90 percent of the consumer basket — saw annual inflation surge to 55.23 percent in April, up from 45.02 percent in March. Transport inflation rose even more steeply, climbing to 32.96 percent from 22.27 percent over the same period.
Restaurants and hotels also recorded higher annual inflation, rising to 16.14 percent from 12.44 percent.
These upward movements were partially offset by declines in several categories. Food and non-alcoholic beverages — the largest category by weight at 40.30 percent — saw annual inflation ease to 3.56 percent in April from 4.58 percent in March. Health inflation dropped to 9.56 percent from 11.54 percent, while recreation and culture fell sharply to 1.23 percent from 5.95 percent.
Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics recorded deflation of minus 5.99 percent year-on-year.
On a month-on-month basis, transport prices rose 9.70 percent, while restaurants and hotels increased 4.22 percent. However, clothing and footwear prices fell 4.85 percent month-on-month, and furnishings dropped 3.35 percent.
Regionally, the Western Area (including Freetown) recorded the highest annual inflation at 15.94 percent, followed by the Northern Region at 15.30 percent — both above the national average of 10.83 percent. The Eastern Region reported 4.28 percent, the Southern Region 5.04 percent, and the North-West Region the lowest at 1.54 percent.
“A double-digit inflation rate has been recorded for a second month since March 2025,” the report noted. The national estimate is above all other regions’ estimates, except for the Western and Northern regions.
The national Consumer Price Index rose to 267.77 in April 2026, compared with 241.61 in April 2025, using December 2021 as the base month (100).
Statistics Sierra Leone said the inflation data is based on prices collected for at least 440 items across six markets in Freetown and three markets each in Bo, Kenema, Kono, Makeni, and Port Loko-Kambia, using the Modified Laspeyres formula.
The index has recently been rebased to December 2021, with expanded coverage including the North-West region.
