Lower food prices have led to a drop in Tanzania's annual inflation to 12.9 percent in January compared with 13.5 percent in December of last year, according to the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics.
The statistical bureau said in a statement that the decrease of inflation was mainly due to the decrease of food inflation which went from 18.6 percent in December to 18.2 percent in January.
The average annual inflation for the year 2008 was 10.3 percent or 6.7 percent without food prices.
Food carries a 55.9-percent weight on Tanzania's National Consumer Prices Index which is worked out through the retail prices of 207 items collected from 20 cities and towns in mainland Tanzania.
Tanzania's annual inflation rate hit double digits for the first time in a decade in September last year. The government of Tanzania has planned to bring annual inflation back to within 7 percent by June 2009.
In Tanzania, the prices of foods and petrochemical products are the biggest factors to cause inflation to fluctuate.