Zim inflation spikes to 363% in January

Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe’s annual inflation surged to 362.63 percent in January, a 14.04 percentage points increase from December on the back of rising prices of goods and services, data released on Wednesday shows.

Inflation stood at 348.59 percent in December, slightly above the 300 percent target government had set to achieve.

“This means prices as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index increased by an average of 362.63 percent between January 2020 and January 2021,” said the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat).

Month-on-month inflation was 5.43 percent, gaining 1.21 percentage points on the December 2020 rate of 4.22 percent.

Zimbabwe’s inflation, which peaked at 785.55 percent in May last year, had largely been going down until the latest spike.

Observers point to a fuel price hike effected last month as one of the major price push factors.

The exchange rate, which has been one of the major price drivers, has largely remained unchanged at both the official and unofficial levels.

Between November last year and January, the price of diesel has gone up to $97.24 from $82.05.

Government has said it is targeting to bring down annual inflation to below 135 percent by the end of next year, while month-on-month is expected to average below one percent.
New Ziana