Inflation up

Source: Inflation up | The Herald April 17, 2017

Business Reporter
The year-on-year inflation rate – annual percentage change – for the month of March 2017 as measured by the All Items Consumer Price Index stood at 0,21 percent, gaining 0,15 percentage points on the February 2017 rate of 0,06 percent, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

This means that prices as measured by the All Items CPI increased by an average of 0,21 percentage points between March 2016 and March 2017.

ZimStats said 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. The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation, which is prone to transitory shocks, stood at 1,21 percent whilst the non-food inflation rate was -0,25 percent.

The month-on-month inflation rate in March 2017 was 0,03 percent, shedding 0,58 percentage points on the February 2017 rate of 0,61 percent. This means that prices as measured by the All Items CPI increased at an average rate of 0,03 percent from February 2017 to March 2017.

The month-on-month 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 previous month in the current year.

The month-on-month food and non- alcoholic beverages inflation rate stood at -0,21 percent in March 2017, shedding 1,78 percentage points on the February 2017 rate of 1,56 percent. The month-on- month non-food inflation rate stood at 0,15 percent, shedding 0,02 percentage points on the February 2017 rate of 0,17 percent.

Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate broke into positive territory for the first time in 29 months last month after gaining 0,71 percentage points on the January 2017 rate of -0,7 percent to 0,6 percent in February.

Zimbabwe first entered deflation in February 2014 when the annual rate of inflation shed 0,9 percentage points to 0,49 percent, as prices continued to fall in relation to a strong US dollar.

Since October 2014, the country’s headline inflation has remained largely negative as the strong dollar and weak aggregate demand eliminated any latitude for traders to sustain price increases.