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Claim: Sierra Leone’s annual inflation rate fell to 9.38% in April 2025, marking the first time since May 2021 that inflation has dropped to single digits.
Verdict: This is partially true. While the inflation rate did fall to 9.38% in April 2025, official records show that the last time Sierra Leone experienced single-digit inflation was in March 2021, not May 2021, as claimed.
Full Text
On May 30, 2025, Yusuf Keketoma Sandi, a Press Secretary to the Sierra Leonean president, Julius Maada Bio, announced via a Facebook post that Sierra Leone’s annual inflation rate had dropped to 9.38% in April 2025. He described this as a significant milestone—the first return to single-digit inflation in nearly four years and attributed it to President Bio’s leadership.
The announcement was published by a local media outlet, Sierraloaded, on its official website and amplified on its X (formerly Twitter) handle.
This fact-check is necessary to ensure the accuracy of public economic statements made by government officials. Clarifying such prevents the spread of misinformation and upholds accountability in economic reporting.
Verification
Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL), the government’s official statistical agency, published its April 2025 CPI report, confirming that the national year-on-year inflation rate stood at 9.38%, down from 10.71% in March 2025. Additionally, Trading Economics corroborates the April 2025 figure of 9.38%. The decline is attributed to improved food supply and stable exchange rates.
However, contrary to the claim that May 2021 was the last time Sierra Leone saw single-digit inflation, Stats SL’s March 2021 CPI report reveals that the annual national consumer price inflation was 8.95% in March 2021, not May. The report also noted a drop from 10.87% in February 2021. Monthly inflation at that time stood at 0.84%, reflecting a broader trend of stabilisation. This timeline is further supported by a Politico report, which cited March 2021 as the most recent instance of single-digit inflation before April 2025.
Conclusion
The claim that Sierra Leone’s annual inflation rate dropped to 9.38% in April 2025 is TRUE, but the assertion that this marks the first single-digit inflation rate since May 2021 is FALSE. Verified data from Statistics Sierra Leone and other sources confirm that the last time inflation fell below 10% was in March 2021, not May 2021. Therefore, the claim is PARTLY TRUE.
