Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate declined to 659.40% in September from 761.02% in August, according to latest figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZimStats).
In July, the country’s inflation stood at 837.53%.
The annual rate of inflation appears to be tracking the stability that is increasingly being entrenched in the economy, largely as a result of the foreign currency auction system.
“The year on year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of September 2020 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 659.40%,” said ZimStats.
Although annual inflation shed of 102 percentage points last month, analysts say the biggest pointer to growing economic stability is the declining month-on-month inflation.
The latest figures show that month-on-month inflation rate in September 2020 was 3.83% shedding 4.61 percentage points on the August 2020 rate of 8.44%.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month ending September 2020 stood at 2,205.24 compared to 2,123.97 in August 2020 and 290.39 in September 2019.
Since March this year – as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – Zimbabwe has been using a dual currency system, that is, the Zimbabwe dollar (which was re-introduced last June) and the United States dollar.
Accordingly, ZimStats introduced the Blended CPI.
With regards to this specific CPI, month-on-month inflation rate in September 2020 was -0.47% shedding 1.88 percentage points on the August 2020 rate of 1.41%.
The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of September 2020 as measured by the all items blended CPI stood at 376.29 percent.
The blended CPI for the month ending September 2020 stood at 100.93 compared to 101.41 in August 2020 and 21.19 in September 2019.
Earlier this month, staunch Zimbabwe critic, Professor Steve Hanke says efforts by Zimbabwe’s official inflation rate – at 761% – was overstated.
Professor Hanke placed Zimbabwe’s August inflation at 452%, compared to the August annual rate of inflation of 761% as provided by the ZimStats.