Zimbabwe speeds up production of inflation data




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HARARE (Xinhua) — The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) has upgraded its computer systems to allow for the production of up to date inflation data, the agency said in a statement Monday.

Prior to this, data collection was paper-based, resulting in the agency publishing inflation figures 30 days after data collection.

“Zimstat would like to inform users that from Jan. 2021, Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be disseminated in the same month of data collection.

“This has been made possible by the adoption of computerization in data collection and processing,” Zimstat said.

Analysts had previously criticized the production of delayed data, saying it affected timely planning.

As of last December, the country’s annual inflation stood at 348.59 percent, down from 401.66 percent the previous month.

Inflation has maintained a downward trend since August last year following the introduction of a foreign exchange auction trading system that has brought stability to the foreign exchange market.