ZIMBABWE'S year-on-year inflation rate for the month of December 2012 marginally dropped to 2,91 percent, shedding 0,08 percentage points on the November rate of 2,99 percent, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency has said.

This means prices, as measured by the all-items consumer price index, increased by an average of 2,91 percentage points between December 2011 and December 2012.

But, the fall in the rate of inflation does not imply a fall in the price of goods, but the decrease in the rate or magnitude by which prices increased over 12 months.

"The year-on-year inflation rate is given by the percentage change in the index of the relevant month of the current year, compared with the index of the same month in the previous year," said ZimStat.

"The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation prone to transitory shocks stood at 3,81 percent while non-food inflation stood at 2,51 percent."

The month-on-month inflation rate in December 2012 shed 0,003 percentage points from November's figure of 0,134 to close at 0,131 percent.

Monthly food and beverages rate of inflation for December 2012 stood at 0,29 percent, shedding 0,11 percentage points on the November rate of 0,18 percent.

Month-on-month non-food inflation was pegged at 0,06 percent compared with November's rate of 0,11, representing a 0,05 percentage points drop.

Annual inflation rate for the year 2012 ended at about 3,7 percent which falls within Treasury's forecast for the period to December 2012 of 3,5 percent.