By ETimes
The Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) said the country’s month – on – month and annual inflation cooled down in the month of September as food inflation slowed down.
Month-on-month inflation rate in September 2022 was 3,5 percent shedding 8,9 percentage points on the August 2022 rate of 12,4 percent. This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average rate of 3,5 percent from August 2022 to September 2022.
According to ZIMSTAT, food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate stood at 1,7 percent in September 2022, shedding 12,5 percentage points on the August 2022 rate of 14,2 percent.
In the same period under review, the month-on-month non-food inflation rate stood at 5,2 percent, shedding 5,4 percentage points on the August 2022 rate of 10,6 percent.
Annual inflation slowed to 280,4 percent in September from 285 percent in August, according to ZIMSTAT data.
“It is important to note that data on prices was collected during the period from 12 to 16 September 2022. The changes in prices in this report refer to that period of data collection,” said ZIMSTAT
Economist Tinevimbo Shava said, “The review and enhancement by Government of its procurement processes and practices to ensure value for money have resulted in the stability of the exchange rate and a decline in inflationary pressures, so this is not a surprise.”
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in its latest meeting approved of the Bank’s recent monetary policy measures on the economy saying they have had a positive impact.
In a statement the chairperson of the committee, Dr John Mangudya who is also the RBZ governor said, “The MPC noted with satisfaction that a combination of the tight monetary policy stance, favourable uptake of gold coins, effective monitoring and enforcement of market discipline by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).”
The drop in year on year inflation was unexpected and against all predictions as the finance chief and the MPC had projected it to increase in September and cool down beginning October.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said last week he expects inflation to rise in the near term whilst the MPC at its latest meeting said, “As previously advised, it was expected that the month-on-month inflation would progressively decline, while annual inflation was expected to continue rising to reach an annual peak in September 2022 due to the lower base effect in 2021.”
Economist Namatai Maeresera said, “The country has been on a monetary policy tightening stance and these are the benefits of such activities, the gold coins, high interest rates and government payment stance have led us to this point and all should be commended.”
In the period under review, Food Poverty Line (FPL) for one person in September 2022 was $20 818.00
According to Zimstat, a person needed an income of at least $27 298 in September to afford the basics.
ZIMSTAT said, “This means that an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as at September 2022 in order not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 2,5 percent when compared to the August 2022 figure of $26 622.83 – Harare