Zimbabwe adopts new inflation rate based on U.S. dollar, local currency

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe will from now on measure inflation using a weighted average of items priced in Zimbabwean dollars and U.S. dollars, the government said on Friday.

Previously the official rate was based only on items in the local currency.

The U.S. dollar is widely used in the southern African country alongside the Zimbabwean dollar and South African rand.

The government relaunched the Zimbabwean dollar in 2019 after a decade of dollarisation, but in 2020 it authorised the use of foreign currencies as part of measures to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, it said the multi-currency system would be maintained for a further five years.

Blended inflation for February stood at 92.3% year-on-year compared to 101.5% in January, the statistics agency said.

(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexander Winning and Christina Fincher)