Zimbabwe annual rate of inflation for the month of April 2019 jumped to 75.86% from the March 2019 rate of 66.80% as the country’s local currency – the RTGS dollar/ZWL continues to weaken.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency, “this means that prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average of 75.86% between April 2018 and April 2019.”

“The ZWL (Zimbabwe local currency) closed April 2019 at ZWL3.26 against the US$; about 7.67 percent weaker from the beginning of the month. The depreciation of the local currency (ZWL) has slowed compared to March 2019 and this is likely due to limited activity on the inter-bank market.

“As a result of limited activity, businesses and individuals are increasingly accessing foreign currency on the parallel market thereby widening the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rates and increasing inflation pressures as retailers pass-on the additional cost of imports to final consumers.

“Continued devaluation sustains inflation expectations,” said Old Mutual Zimbabwe in its monthly review for April 2019.

The year-on-year Food and Non Alcoholic beverages inflation prone to transitory shocks stood at 92.52% while the Non-food inflation rate was 68.17%.

The month on month inflation rate in April 2019 was 5.52 percent gaining 1.14 percentage points on the March 2019 rate of 4.38%.

This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average rate of 5.52 percent from March 2019 to April 2019.

The month on month Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages inflation rate stood at 7.85% in April 2019, gaining 2.75 percentage points on the March 2019 rate of 5.10 percent. The month on month non-food inflation rate stood at 4.45%, gaining 0.40 percentage points on the March 2019 rate of 4.05%.

The CPI for the month ending April 2019 stood at 110.14 compared to 104.38 in March 2019 and 62.63 in April 2018.