Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. By Alois Vinga
ANNUAL inflation in Zimbabwe reduced further to 77, 2% with monthly inflation remaining in the negative margin, Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) revealed Monday.
Inflation rose unsustainably towards the end of the year’s first half forcing prices up before authorities intervened swiftly by employing mechanisms aimed at easing inflation.
“The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of August 2023 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 77,2%.
“The year-on-year inflation rate is given by the percentage change in the index of the relevant month of the current year compared with the index of the same month in the previous year,” said the statistics agency.
The current annual inflation rate has declined by 24,1% from the July 2023 figure of 101,3%.
Price hikes in Zimbabwe are usually influenced by exchange rate dynamics with depreciation usually impacting tremors across the economy.
To this end all duty payments on basic commodities were scrapped, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is now allowed to peg domestic interest rates on ZWL savings to be above the perceived rate of expected devaluation for holding ZWL balances in a bid to promote the hold of the ZWL among others.
The payment of corporate taxes using the ZWL was also allowed in a bid to widen the usage of the local currency while easing off pressures on the exchange rates.
The month-on-month inflation rate in August 2023 was -6.2% gaining 9,1% on the July 2023 rate of -15,3%.
The Food Poverty Line (FPL) represents the amount of money that an individual requires to afford a daily minimum energy intake of 2 100 calories. The Food Poverty Line (FPL) for one person in August 2023 was $70,461.00.
The Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person was $91,063.00 in August 2023. The TCPL is derived by adding the non-food consumption expenditures of poor households to the FPL.
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