Information by Trading Economics, a website that gives data on economic performance around the globe show that Zimbabwe at 75.66% has the second-highest inflation rate in the world.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) which ranked the countries using Trading Economics took the April inflation results and ranked Venezuela with 282,972.80% on top of the list.
“Second on the list, Zimbabwe currently has an inflation rate just under 176%, stoking concern that the nation is returning to the hyperinflation it suffered a decade ago,” WEF comments the results on its website.
“Prices are increasing amid a scarcity of essentials, including bread, fuel and medicine. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised stability after he took over from Robert Mugabe in 2017, but it seems an economic revival is yet to materialize.”
An analyst organisation, Fitch Solutions commenting on Zimbabwe’s inflation says an economic collapse brought on by a currency crisis has led to hyperinflation and widespread shortages of foreign currency and fuel.
“The underlying factor behind accelerating inflation, however, remains the country’s complex and unsustainable currency regime,” the analyst says.
“Shortages of US dollars have led to a sharp fall in the value of bond notes and electronic dollars on the parallel market.”
“With real-time gross settlement dollars trading at around RTGS$4.8 to one physical US dollar, the prices of food, fuel and many other goods and services continue to rise sharply,” Fitch Solutions went on further.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who suspended the publication of inflation figures by Zimstat, however, denies that there is hyperinflation in Zimbabwe despite the rising commodity prices.
“If you want to annualise, take your month-on-month, annualise it and multiply by 12, you are allowed to do that. There is no difficulty,” the Professor was quoted in a local press.
“People have a narrative about hyperinflation, so if you take way that narrative they don’t know what to do. They can’t cope.
“Don’t account for hyperinflation. There is no hyperinflation, there is just inflation,” he said.
WEF and Professor Steve Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University have however been similar on putting Zimbabwe at number two and Venezuela on position one in terms of inflation.
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