BUSINESS REPORTER
Annual inflation declined to 75.2% in April from 87.6% in March, the second successive month since the statistical agency began using the weighted average inflation of both US$ and ZWL$, latest figures show.
Month on month inflation rose to 2.4% after gaining 2.3 percentage points on the March 2023 rate of 0.1%.
In February, the government enacted Statutory Instrument 27 of 2023 which takes into account the weighted average inflation of both US$ and ZWL$.
The government said the move was necessitated by the increased use of the greenback as a transactional currency. Statistics show that 70% of the transactions are in dollars.
Accountants and experts say the weighted method did not give a correct picture of the prevailing situation.
The country’s largest business lobby group, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) said the blended inflation was “totally unanticipated and has serious negative implications for the economy”.
“In general, all statistics, including inflation rate, are published so that they are used in different areas by stakeholders,” CZI said in its February inflation publication.
CZI said inflation could be used as a tool for collective bargaining, as salaries need to be adjusted to ensure that workers can at least be able to afford a decent lifestyle that is free from poverty.
