September inflation soared 4.73 percent, the highest price movement since January this year as the local currency continues to lose ground against the American dollar.
The Zimbabwe dollar has been depreciating rapidly during the past few weeks on the parallel market, a development that has led to price hikes of goods and services as businesses seek to consolidate profits in local currency.
According to the latest figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), “the month on month inflation rate in September 2021 was 4.73 percent gaining 0.55 percentage points on the August 2021 rate of 4.18 percent,”
“This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average rate of 4.73 percent from August 2021 to September2021.”
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 4.82 percent in September 2021, gaining 1.68 percentage points on the August 2021 rate of 3.14 percent.
The month-on-month non-food inflation rate stood at 4.67 percent, shedding 0.28 percentage points on the August 2021 rate of 4.95 percent.
The year on year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of September 2021 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 51.55 percent.
The Food Poverty Line (FPL) for one person in September 2021 was $4,734.00. The Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person stood at $6,654.00 in September 2021.
“This means that the minimum needs basket cost that much per person in September 2021. This represents an increase of 4.8 percent over the August2021figureof$4,516.52.
The Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for Zimbabwe stood at$6,653.65 per person in September 2021.
“This means that an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as at September 2021 in order not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 4.8percent when compared to the August 2021 figure of $6,350.29,” said Zimstat.
Monetary authorities have struggled to contain the exchange rate movements which have seen the Zimbabwe dollar trading at ZWL$ 170/USD.
There are concerns about the stagnation of the official exchange rate on the RBZ-run auction market which is stuck at ZWL$86/USD and not consistent with developments in the economy.
