HARARE - Zimbabwe's government Central Statistical Office (CSO) has delayed issuing inflation figures for April as a result of a mix up in data collection, a senior CSO official has said.The figures which were scheduled to be released on April 10, will now be released at a later date.
“There was a mix up in the data collection so we could not issue the monthly inflation figures for April,” the CSO official, who did not want his name to be published because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
CSO director Moffat Nyoni, could not be reached for comment.
Zimbabwe’s month-on-month inflation for March shed 0.1 percentage point from the February rate to minus three per cent, as the cost of food and non-food commodities dropped again.
Statistics revealed that month-on-month food inflation stood at minus 1.81 per cent, shedding 0.99 percentage points on the February rate of 2.80 per cent.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who joined his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe in a power-sharing government, has prioritised the rebuilding the shattered economy, since taking office in February.
The last official assessment of Zimbabwe’s inflation when the local dollar was in use came in July last year when it was put at 231 million per cent, a figure that independent economists saw as a gross understatement.
Analysts see a unity government as providing the best opportunity to revive Zimbabwe’s economy once held as a model for other African countries. The inclusive government says it needs more than US$8.5 billion over the next three years to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure and haul the country’s economy from ruin.
Zimonline