The annual inflation in Zimbabwe (year-on-year) hit 785.55% in May 2020, up from 765.57% in April 2020, occasioned by shortages of fuel, foreign currency and power.
According to the National Statistics Agency, the COVID-19 lockdown and movement restrictions contributed to a further deterioration of the country’s currency. They deepened the already severe food shortage problem and heightened transportation and agricultural production challenges.
The month-on-month inflation rate stood at 15.13% in May, down from 17.64% in April. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month ending in May 2020 stood at 1,097.65, compared to 953.36 in April 2020, and 123.95 in May 2019.
This comes even as black-market rates for the Zimbabwe dollar range between 75 and 90 per unit of the US currency. The country’s worst economic crisis since 2008 deepens. Business Tech reports that the widening gap between the black market rate and official currency rates is further pushing companies to use illegal means to source for foreign currency.
Zimbabwe reintroduced its own currency last year, after a 10-years hiatus caused by the scrapping of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009 after a bout of hyperinflation.
See Also:
