- Food and beverage prices rose 8.59% in the year to September 2026, while overall annual inflation stayed subdued at 1.17%.
- Vegetables, fruit and fish drove food increases, with onions up 19.43%, oranges up 21.62% and fish 8.66% higher than a year earlier.
- Atolls faced steeper cost pressures than Malé, as falling tobacco prices (down 29.11% yearly) moderated the national index.
Food and beverage prices in the Maldives rose 8.59% in the year to September 2026, placing pressure on household budgets despite a much smaller increase in overall consumer prices.
The Maldives Bureau of Statistics’ latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report recorded annual inflation of 1.17%, up from 0.76% in August. The gap between food inflation and the overall rate reflects sharply different price movements across household spending categories, with falling tobacco prices offsetting increases in food and transport.
Consumer prices rose 0.29% compared with August, following a 1.15% monthly decline. Food and beverages were the largest upward contributor, increasing 1.82% during September.
Vegetable prices rose 5.52% over the month, while fruit prices increased 3.77%. Among individual products, onions became 19.43% more expensive, garlic rose 17.50% and oranges increased 21.62%. Tomatoes and mangoes also recorded increases of 6.21% and 7.71%, respectively.
Fish prices rose 2.22% during September and were 8.66% above their level a year earlier. Reef fish prices increased 5.03% over the month, while tuna prices rose 4.17%.
The increases extended beyond fish. Food and beverage prices excluding fish were 8.57% higher than in September 2025, indicating that annual price pressures were spread across the wider food basket.
The regional figures show a greater annual increase in living costs in the atolls. Overall inflation reached 2.60% in the atolls, compared with 0.21% in Malé. Food and beverage prices rose 9.65% in the atolls and 7.39% in the capital.
Fish accounted for a particularly pronounced regional difference. Prices were 13.13% higher than a year earlier in the atolls, compared with a 2.64% increase in Malé. Annual transport inflation was also higher in the atolls, at 9.65%, against 5.22% in the capital.
Nationally, transport prices remained 7.75% above September 2025 levels, although they declined 0.52% during the month. International airfares fell 5.92% compared with August, helping to moderate the monthly increase in the overall index.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel costs increased 0.32% over the month. The report recorded a 2.19% increase in the weighted average unit price paid for electricity, while gas prices declined 1.89%.
The largest downward influence came from tobacco and areca nuts, where prices fell 3.95% during September and 29.11% over the year.
These opposing movements mean the overall inflation rate provides only a partial picture of household spending pressures. While the national index recorded a relatively modest annual increase, food prices rose substantially faster, with larger increases in the atolls.
