Zim’s annual inflation rate doubles in June to 176%

Zimbabwe’s inflation rate almost doubled in June from the previous month.

Annual inflation accelerated to 175.7% from 97.9% in May, the statistics office said in an emailed release on Monday.

Prices rose 39.3% in the month.

Key Insights:

Zimbabwe’s Treasury expects changes to the country’s multi-currency system that were announced last month will help rein in inflation later in the year.

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Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in June he expects inflation to be below 10% by the end of the year.

Inflation in the southern African nation peaked at 500 billion percent in 2008, prompting the government to abandon its Zimbabwe dollar. The government announced last month that foreign currency won’t be legal tender in the country anymore.

Fin24 reported last month that the Zimbabwe dollar is now the only acceptable medium of exchange for local transactions.

This effectively sidelines the multiple currency regime that Zimbabwe has been using alongside the bond notes and the recently introduced RTGS$ currency.

In a Statutory Instrument (SI) at the time, Ncube gazetted the official side-lining of the SA Rand, Botswana Pula and US Dollar as legal tender.