Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 November 2008
Harare — The Central Statistical Office will now include foreign currency-denominated prices in calculating inflation, an official said on Wednesday.
Acting director Mr Moffat Nyoni said that the statistical body was still working on inflation data for August.
The August and September figures would, however, not include foreign currency-denominated prices as they were not yet official, he said.
"We are including foreign currency-denominated prices for the October inflation figures," he said.
"These would then be converted to Zimbabwe dollars using the parallel market rate and subsequently it would also enable us to see by what percentage the prices have gone up in hard currency terms."
The CSO has in the past failed to produce inflation figures on time due to shortage of some products used in coming up with the Consumer Price Index.
With some retail shops now licensed to sell goods in hard currency, the majority of basic commodities are now largely available on the market.
The CSO is the only body mandated to release official statistics. It last announced figures for July when inflation was estimated at more than 230 million percent.
"There is nothing yet. We are still working on some figures," Mr Nyoni said when asked on availability of inflation figures for the month of August.
Rampaging inflation, dubbed the country's number one enemy by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, continues to wipe away the value of the local currency.
This is presenting major challenges to the general populace as prices of basic goods continue to shoot.
New Ziana.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
"These would then be converted to Zimbabwe dollars using the parallel market rate and subsequently it would also enable us to see by what percentage the prices have gone up in hard currency terms." -if ever there was an admission of defeat, here it is!
It is no longer a question of when will Zimbabwe collapse; it already has. As someone has said already,Zimbabwe is simply another Somalia dressed up.