Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe’s month-on-month inflation slowed down in December 2019, closing the year at 16.55 percent after shedding 0.91 percentage points from the previous month, data released on Wednesday shows.

Month-on month inflation was 17.46 percent in November, 2019.

“This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI (Consumer Price Index) increased by an average of 16.55 percent from November 2019 to December, 2019,” the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat)said.

Exchange rate pressures which are stoking currency instability have been the main push factor in the increase of prices of goods and services.

Government has said it will this year prioritise stabilising the Zimbabwe dollar, which in the past year had seen its value slide against major currencies.

Zimstat said food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation was 15.75 percent in December 2019 after shedding 6.88 percentage points from the previous month.

Non-food inflation stood at 17.14 percent after gaining 3.20 percentage points from November.

Government has forecast that month-on-month inflation will fall to single digit levels in the first quarter of this year.

In July last year, government suspended production and use of annual
inflation statistics until February this year following currency
changes which the authorities said required Zimstat to build up a new data
base for prices using the Zimbabwe dollar as opposed to the United
States dollar used prior.
New Ziana