If like us you have been waiting patiently for the April inflation figures from ZIMSTAT then you still have some waiting to do. The inflation figures for April are not yet out and the agency has blamed the current imposed lockdown under Covid-19 for the delays.

Under normal circumstances inflation data is published on or around the 15th of each month. So for example data for April 2020 was supposed to have been released on 15 May 2020. ZIMSTAT would have spent the month of April collecting the requisite data before doing the math.

We apologise for the delay in publishing April 15, 2020 inflation statistics which were supposed to be released today May 15, 2020, but has been delayed due to issues related to COVID-19 ZIM/lockdownZIM. These stats will be published upon finalisation of data processing
ZIMSTAT’s apology on Twitter.

This apology was issued on 15 May instead of the figures. No word has been given yet on when the figures will be announced. Since February, ZIMSTAT has been issuing both the month to month inflation as well as the running annual inflation figures. This was after Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube put a blanket ban on reporting annual inflation last year after the introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar.

While it is true that the current lockdown which has restricted movement has made it harder to collect data, logic says it shouldn’t delay the inflation data. Why? Well, ZIMSTAT should have collected the necessary data by now as the data pertains to the month of April. They are surely no longer collecting data now we are well into May. Covid-19 or not they should have finished collecting data by 30 April.

Collected data can then be used to do calculations. This is an activity that is unlikely to be affected by Covid-19 thanks to the internet.