Business / Economy
Year-on-year inflation increases
17 Dec 2010 at 17:47hrs | Views
Year-on-year inflation for November increased by 0,6 percentage points to 4,2 percent, data released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency revealed.
According to the agency, inflation as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index stood at 4,2 percent against October's 3,6 percent.
This means that prices as measured by CPI increased by an average of 4,2 percentage points between November 2009 and November 2010.
"The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation prone to transitory shocks stood at 9,79 percent while no-food inflation stood at 1,86 percent," said Zimstat.
The month-on-month inflation rate in November was at 0,5 percent gaining 0,3 percent on the October rate of 0,2 percent.
This means that the rate of change in prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average of 0,5 from October to November.
The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation stood at 1,35 percent in November gaining 0,95 percentage points from the previous month's rate of 0,40 percent. The month-on-month non-food inflation stood at 0,11 percent shedding 0,03 percentage points on the October rate of 0,14 percent.
The CPI for the month ending November stood at 95,7 compared to 95,3 in October and 91,9 in November 2009.
An economic analyst with Kingdom Financial Holdings, Mr Witness Chinyama, said despite the rise in inflation, the targeted rate of inflation of between 4,5 percent and 5 percent by Government by the end of the year was still achievable.
He said although inflation had increased there were no strong fundamentals to support the upsurge, adding that the increase was largely due to the firming of the rand and speculative tendencies by retailers to increase prices especially during this time of the year.
"Government has an inflation target of between 4,5 percent and 5 percent by year end and despite the increase, the inflation is still within the target.
"Yes, inflation has increased but there are no strong fundamentals to support the increase because this is due to the firming of the South African rand against the United States dollar. Also during this time of the year there are no cereals harvested and this will result in retailers increasing prices of foodstuffs. We expect prices of foodstuffs to stabilise during harvesting time in April.
"In addition, during the last quarter of the year retailers increase prices because of speculative tendencies based on the festive season," he said.
According to the agency, inflation as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index stood at 4,2 percent against October's 3,6 percent.
This means that prices as measured by CPI increased by an average of 4,2 percentage points between November 2009 and November 2010.
"The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation prone to transitory shocks stood at 9,79 percent while no-food inflation stood at 1,86 percent," said Zimstat.
The month-on-month inflation rate in November was at 0,5 percent gaining 0,3 percent on the October rate of 0,2 percent.
This means that the rate of change in prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average of 0,5 from October to November.
The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation stood at 1,35 percent in November gaining 0,95 percentage points from the previous month's rate of 0,40 percent. The month-on-month non-food inflation stood at 0,11 percent shedding 0,03 percentage points on the October rate of 0,14 percent.
The CPI for the month ending November stood at 95,7 compared to 95,3 in October and 91,9 in November 2009.
An economic analyst with Kingdom Financial Holdings, Mr Witness Chinyama, said despite the rise in inflation, the targeted rate of inflation of between 4,5 percent and 5 percent by Government by the end of the year was still achievable.
He said although inflation had increased there were no strong fundamentals to support the upsurge, adding that the increase was largely due to the firming of the rand and speculative tendencies by retailers to increase prices especially during this time of the year.
"Government has an inflation target of between 4,5 percent and 5 percent by year end and despite the increase, the inflation is still within the target.
"Yes, inflation has increased but there are no strong fundamentals to support the increase because this is due to the firming of the South African rand against the United States dollar. Also during this time of the year there are no cereals harvested and this will result in retailers increasing prices of foodstuffs. We expect prices of foodstuffs to stabilise during harvesting time in April.
"In addition, during the last quarter of the year retailers increase prices because of speculative tendencies based on the festive season," he said.
Source - Bulawayo
