Zimbabwe’s Consumer Price Index went up again after a marginal decline in January. For the month of February, the Consumer Price Index stood at 66% up from about 60% in January. That is a rise of about 6%. Meanwhile, for month on month inflation, the rate went up to 7% in February compared to 5.3% in January an increase of 1.7%. The increase in inflation can almost be certainly blamed on the rate spiked we witnessed during the last weeks of January and the first week of February. Thanks to the RBZ tightening money supply the black market rate has since stabilised. It remains to be seen however if the same feat can be achieved through the first few weeks of March. If the rate remains stable there should be at least a marginal fall in inflation.
The month-on-month inflation rate in February 2022 was 7.0 percent gaining 1.7 percentage points on the January 2022 rate of 5.3 percent.
The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of February 2022 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 66.1 percent.
The CPI for the month ending February 2022 stood at 4 483.06 compared to 4 189.97 in January 2022 and 2 698.89 in February 2021.
Consumer Price Index— February 2022 The month-on-month inflation rate in February 2022 was 7.0 percent gaining 1.7 percentage points on the January 2022 rate of 5.3 percent.
The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of February 2022 as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index CPI stood at 66.1 percent.
The CPI for the month ending February 2022 stood at 4,483.06 compared to 4,189.97 in January 2022 and 2,698.89 in February 2021. Blended Consumer Price Index— February 2022 The month-on-month inflation rate in February 2022 was 3.1 percent increasing by 0.4 percentage points on the January 2021 rate of 2.7 percent.
The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of February 2022 as measured by all items blended Consumer Price Index CPI stood at 27.8 percent.
The blended CPI for the month ending February 2022 stood at 142.28 compared to 138.02 in January 2022 and 111.30 in February 2021.
Full statement from ZIMSTAT
What it all means
To the initiated inflation doesn’t measure how high prices go up. It is rather a measure of how fast and how often prices are going up. Think of them as a measure of speed rather than as a measure of distance. Ideal inflation should be somewhere around 5% for the annual figure. Zimbabwe’s monthly inflation of 66% is rather concerning as it makes planning difficult. You will notice that the blended inflation is always lower than the ZWL inflation figure. We dispute the rationale behind the blended inflation figure but it does offer some insight into what’s causing prices to go up. In USD terms prices are hardly ever-changing. Rather the changes in the prices are probably a result of changes in the exchange rate between the ZWL
Leave A Comment