ZimStat Says Lockdown Delayed Issuance Of Inflation Figures
The Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZimStat) has said that the coronavirus-induced lockdown delayed the issuance of April’s inflation figures.
The agency said that the closure of shops made the compilation of data impossible adding that it was hopeful that the figures would be published at the end of this month.
Speaking to the NewsDay, ZimStat prices statistics manager Thomas Chikadaya said:
We are processing and we will release the figures once it’s done. Shops were closed, so we could not gather the data we need. We expect it to be published by end of month.
Economist Victor Bhoroma, however, expressed scepticism about the delay saying the agency could be trying to manipulate figures since prices soared due to an increase in demand for basic goods.
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The Zimbabwe dollar that was reintroduced last year after being ditched for a decade is rapidly losing value against other currencies, a development that has brought back hyperinflation as businesses hike prices frequently to match the parallel market forex rates.
Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate jumped to 676.39% in March from 540.16% in February and is expected to go up again as businesses continue to increase commodity prices despite government directing them to freeze prices.
More: NewsDay
