Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG) and the US$ succumbed to significant inflationary pressures in the month of January 2025, signifying the fact that the local economy still remains in deep seated problems.
Data released by the Zimbabwe National Statistic Agency (Zimstat) Tuesday shows that the Weighted month-on-month inflation rate was 11,5% in January 2025, gaining 10.5 percentage points on the December 2024 rate of 1.1 percent.
“The US$ month-on-month inflation rate was 11.5%t in January 2025, gaining 10,9% on the December 2024 rate of 0,6%.On the other hand, the ZWG month-on-month inflation rate was 10,5% in January 2025, gaining 6,8% on the December 2024 rate of 3,7%,” said Zimstat.
The statistics agency said year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of January 2025 as measured by the all-items USD Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 14,6 %.
For the month of January 2025, the Weighted CPI for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages contributed mostly to the month-on-month change in index (inflation rate) by a magnitude of 4.7%, followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels with a magnitude of 3.9%.
Experts attribute the current surge of month on month inflation to exchange rate volatility which has seen formal retailers adjusting US$ prices to cover the gap created by the formal exchange rate which is lagging behind the widely used parallel market rates.
