By Almot Maqolo.
HARARE (News of The South) – Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit (ZEPARU) says the country’s inflation rate is the highest in the region, with the quasi-government body raising the need for prioritization of disinflation measures.
The southern African nation continues to experience highest inflation rate in Africa. Headline inflation for March 2020 stood at 676.4 percent after gaining 136.2 percentage points from 540.2 percent recorded in February 2020.
“Prices in Zimbabwe continue to increase as most consumer goods are pegged in United States dollars and the volatility of parallel market exchange rate will likely see increased inflationary pressures,” ZEPARU stated in its first quarter report for 2020.
In Q1 2020, the southern African nation’s inflation was the highest in Africa followed by Sudan at 81.6 percent and Angola at 19.62 percent. Angola’s headline inflation which has been on a downward trend in the last quarter of 2019 increased in the first quarter of 2020, whilst Mauritius recorded the lowest inflation rates.
Inflation rates are expected to continue with the upward momentum as parallel market exchange rates continues spike.
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