Inflation gathers momentum

Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 0,48 percent in April this year from 0,21 percent in March, the national statistics agency said yesterday.

But analysts said the increase had more to do with pricing vagaries than increased economic activity as food prices has been increasing for the past few months as a result of foreign currency shortages.

This has resulted in most businesses resorting to the black market where they pay a premium of up to 10 percent to get the scarce United States dollars. The premium is then passed to the final consumer, which increases the general price level.

The month-on-month inflation rate in April 2017 was 0,05 percent gaining 0,02 percentage points on the March 2017 rate of 0,03 percent.

The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation prone to transitory shocks stood at 1,35 percent whilst the nonfood inflation rate was 0,08 percent. Daily News