Inflation in September went up by 1.31 percentage points to 51.55% from 50.24% in August, reversing the downward trend that began in August last year raising questions whether Zimbabwe will be able to bring it down to between 25 to 35% by the end of the year as predicted.
Inflation peaked at 837.5% in July last year and has been on a downward trend since then. This trend was briefly interrupted at the beginning of the year when inflation rose from 348.6% in December to 362.6% in January.
United States economist Steve Hanke, who uses the black market rate to calculate inflation, put Zimbabwe’s inflation at 76.82% at 24 September.
The Zimbabwe dollar has been falling on the black market of late with the rate almost double the auction rate now regarded as the official rate.
Month-on-month inflation also went up from 4.18% in August to 4.73% this month.
The poverty datum line for one person went up by nearly 5% from $6 350 to $6 654 while the food poverty line went up from $4 516 in August to $4 734.
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