ZIMSTAT To Report Three Sets Of Inflation Figures

The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) will be reporting three sets of inflation figures following the introduction of the new currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG).

ZIMSTAT on Monday, 29 April, said it will start measuring ZiG monthly inflation in May, when it will have comparisons for the month. The agency said:

Going forward from the April price statistics, the country will publish three price indices with the ZiG index, US dollars Index and the Blended Index.

This month we do not have a ZiG price index because it has been rebased according to international practice.

According to ZIMSTAT, the blended annual inflation for April 2024 rose to 57,5%, up from 55,34% in March 2024.

The month-on-month inflation rate was 2.9% per cent in April 2024, shedding 2% on the March 2024 rate of 4,9%.

ZIMSTAT said the month-on-month USD inflation rate for April 2024, was 0.8%, gaining 0.6 percentage points on the March 2024 rate of 0.2%.

The year-on-year USD inflation rate for April 2024, as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 3.2%.

However, since the new currency ZiG, is less than a month old, ZIMSTAT could not compute the ZiG-based inflation figures. The agency said:

The ZiG CPI in April 2024 was 100,00. In April 2024, Zimbabwe introduced the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency. Therefore, the index reference for the CPI for the ZiG currency is April 2024. This means during the month of April 2024, there is no month-on-month and year-on-year inflation rates.

The month-on-month inflation rate for the ZiG currency will be computed starting in May 2024 and going forward and year-on-year inflation rate will be computed in April 2025 and going forward according to the international recommended methods.

Inflation is a measure of how quickly prices are increasing over time. It quantifies how rapidly money loses its ability to buy goods and services.

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