The annual inflation rate in Zimbabwe soared to 75.86% in April 2019 from 66.8% in the prior month. Headline inflation has been on an upward trend since October last year amid worsening economic conditions characterised by shortages of fuel, power, food and foreign currency. The reading reflected a generalised rise in prices, as a weakening local currency motivates retailers to peg prices in line with parallel market rates. Prices climbed mostly for food & non-alcoholic beverages (92.4% vs 78.4% in March); housing & utilities (22.9% vs 22.1%); transport (130.2% vs 122.2%); miscellaneous goods & services (82.5% vs 73.9%) and clothing & footwear (115.1% vs 102.7%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices advanced 5.52 percent, up from 4.38 percent in the prior month. Inflation Rate in Zimbabwe averaged 4.17 percent from 2009 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 75.86 percent in April of 2019 and a record low of -7.50 percent in December of 2009.
Inflation Rate in Zimbabwe is expected to be 64.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Inflation Rate in Zimbabwe to stand at 22.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Zimbabwe Inflation Rate is projected to trend around 9.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.