The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported that Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate soared to nearly 300% in August.
In a statement after a two-week mission to Zimbabwe, the IMF said that the country’s year-on-year inflation rose mainly as a result of a collapsing currency.
The latest estimates suggest a major rise since inflation had stood at 176% in June this year.
The IMF projected that Zimbabwe’s GDP growth in 2019 will be steeply negative due to drought which has an adverse impact on agricultural production and electricity generation.
IMF also observed that social conditions had deteriorated sharply. It also indicated that weakening confidence, policy uncertainty, a continuation of foreign currency market distortions, and a recent expansionary monetary stance had increased pressure on the exchange rate.
Contrary to IMF findings, the local statistics agency, ZIMSTAT, earlier reported that month-on-month inflation rate had dropped by 2.97 per cent in August this year. The report said that the rate of inflation had dropped to 18,07% from 21,04% in July.
This comes when Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, announced that the country will soon print its new currency.
He insists that conditions necessary to sustain the new currency are in place.
More: The News