Transport costs in Sierra Leone eased significantly in July 2026, with the sector recording the steepest monthly price decline of any category tracked in the latest Consumer Price Index, according to data released by Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL).

Annual transport inflation fell to 37.04 percent in July, down from 40.23 percent in June — a drop of 3.19 percentage points, making it one of only two COICOP divisions (alongside food and non-alcoholic beverages) to register a year-on-year decline in July.

The monthly figures were even more pronounced. Transport prices fell by 2.94 percent between June and July, reversing a 2.44 percent monthly increase the previous month — a swing of 5.38 percentage points, the largest monthly movement of any category in the report.

The decline stands out against a broader inflationary backdrop in which national annual inflation rose to 14.89 percent in July, up from 14.77 percent in June. Non-food inflation as a whole climbed to 22.11 percent, with nine of eleven non-food divisions posting increases. Transport was the only non-food category to move firmly in the opposite direction.

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Stats SL’s impact analysis found that despite the sector’s falling prices, transport — weighted at 8.6 percent of the overall CPI basket — remained one of the three largest contributors to the annual inflation rate, alongside housing and fuel, and food. This reflects transport’s outsized weight in the index and the scale of price increases recorded over the preceding twelve months, even as the most recent trend has reversed.

The transport sub-index fell from 323.45 in June 2026 to 313.95 in July, on a base where December 2021 equals 100. That marks a retreat after transport prices had climbed steadily earlier in the year, from 235.92 in January to a high of 323.45 by June.

The pullback also breaks with the sector’s trajectory over the past year. Transport inflation stood at 40.23 percent as recently as June, and the CPI figures show the index roughly 37 percent higher than its July 2025 level of 229.10 — underscoring how much of the past year’s increase remains baked in, even as the most recent monthly movement points downward.

Stats SL’s press release does not specify the cause of the July decline. The agency’s report covers price data collected from markets in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Kono, Makeni and Port Loko-Kambia, using a Modified Laspeyres formula referenced to December 2021 prices.

Statistics Sierra Leone’s July 2026 CPI report was approved for release by Statistician General and CEO Andrew Bob Johnny.