adminadoption of policies meant to address disparities unearthed.
Addressing delegates who attended the dissemination workshop, ZimStat director-general Mr Mutasa Dzinotizei paid tribute to all stakeholders who contributed towards ensuring the survey was a success.
“My gratitude goes to the respondents who provided invaluable information that was analysed to produce the two reports, while I would also like to thank the PICES steering committee and technical committee for successfully implementing the PICES 2011/12 project proficiently.
“With these statistics now out, we believe relevant authorities can be able to come up with evidence-based policy formulation which is effective,” he said.
The survey was conducted from June 2011 to May 2012 its objectives being to provide estimation of private consumption expenditure and disposable income of the household sector, studying the income and expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups.
It also involved compilation of weights for the consumer price index, compilation of the production account of the agricultural sector for households in all types of settlements among a host of many other aspects. This survey just completed comes on the back of another one conducted in 2008, but could not be completed due to operational challenges caused by the harsh economic environment at the time.
However, after dollarisation at the beginning of 2009 the economy went on a recovery path as GDP at constant 2009 prices rose from US$6,1 billion to US$7,4 billion in 2011.
In the PICES 2011/12 survey, the average annual household cash income is measured by gross cash income and in Zimbabwe, the annual gross cash income is US$2 154.
“Total annual income is then divided by the number of households successfully interviewed in order to obtain the average annual household income and this average takes into account households with no incomes as well since removing them from the denominator may overstate the average annual gross cash incomes in Zimbabwe,” read the report.
This means average monthly incomes are obtained by dividing the average annual income by 12 months therefore this translates into average monthly gross cash income of US$180 per household.
The survey report states that Zimbabwean households are net receivers of transfer incomes as they receive transfer incomes from their relatives in the Diaspora and this therefore entails that average annual net cash income in Zimbabwe is higher than gross cash income.
The information the two reports contain is also said to be useful in ensuring that the Medium Term Plan goals are achieved.
“The main target of the MTP is to ensure that the economy remains on a sustainable growth path averaging 7,1 percent per annum for the period 2011-2015 while focusing on inclusive growth and balanced development.
“The data contained in the reports are critical towards aligning findings with MTP goals,” added the report.
Previously, the survey has been termed the Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey and was held every five years.
The PICES 2011/12 survey is based on a sample of 31 248 households, representative at province and district levels.
Data processing started in December 2011 progressing well through to the end of July 2012 when it was completed and this enabled writing of the report while data collection was still in progress.
“This approach has enabled the report to be produced in a timely manner and is recommended in future surveys,” ZimStat said.
Online Reporter