Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate declined to 761.02% in August, down from 837.53% in July, according to latest figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZimStats).
Prices of goods and services in the country have somewhat stabilized over the past few weeks as businesses respond positively to the entrenchment of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s foreign currency auction system.
The official rate, as per last week’s auction stood at 82.91 to the United States dollar.
The price stability had likely contributed to the lowering of the annual rate of inflation.
“The year on year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of August 2020 as measured by all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 761.02%,” said the Agency.
“The CPI for the month ending August 2020 stood at 2,123.97 compared to 1,958.72 in July 2020 & 246.68 in August 2019.”
Month-on-month inflation saw a sharp slowdown in August. The rate in August was 8.44%, which was 27.09 percentage points lower than 35.53% in July.
With respect to the ‘Blended CPI’ (Zimbabwe dollar and United States dollar), the year on year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of August 2020 as measured by all items Blended CPI stood at 420.91%
ZimStats said the Blended CPI for the month ending August 2020 stood at 101.41 compared to 100.00 in July 2020 and 19.47 in August 2019.
On a Blended CPI basis, the month on month inflation rate in August 2020 was 1.41% shedding 15.24 percentage points on the July 2020 rate of 16.65%.