Month on month, annual inflation in sustained fall

Business Writer

Zimbabwe’s month – on – month and annual inflation slowed down to 1.1 percent and 229.8 percent respectively in January, with the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) saying food inflation accounted for the biggest drop.

The month-on-month inflation rate in January 2023 was 1,1 percent cooling by 1,3 percentage points on the December 2022 rate of 2,4 percent.

This means prices as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by an average rate of 1,1 percent from December 2022 to January 2023.

On a year to year basis, inflation slowed to 229,8 percent in January 2023 from 243,8 percent in December 2022 and 255 percent in November 2022.

This is the sixth consecutive month that the monthly inflation rate has been on a downward trend and Treasury projects it to continue being below the 3 percent mark for the rest of the year as it responds to Government policy interventions.

“The Food Poverty Line (FPL) represents the amount of money that an individual will require to afford the required daily minimum energy intake of 2 100 calories. The Food Poverty Line for one person in January 2023 was $22 385.00,” said ZIMSTAT.

The Total Consumption Poverty Line is derived by computing the non-food consumption expenditures of poor households whose consumption expenditures were just equal to the FPL.

According to the statistical agency, if the amount was added to the FPL, if an individual does not consume more than the TCPL, he or she is deemed poor

Resultantly, the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person stood at $29 500.00 in January 2023.