Zim panicking over ‘economic HIV’

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government, which has indefinitely postponed the latest set of inflation figures, appears increasingly panicked over its losing battle against the country’s ‘economic HIV’, analysts said.

Central Statistical Office acting director Moffat Nyoni told AFP on Monday that he was still hoping to announce the figures for March by the end of the week after ironing out a “few technical glitches.” But a finance ministry staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the CSO was under instructions to “withhold the figures until further notice.”After the inflation announcement was postponed twice last week, also for “technical” reasons, most observers believe the real explanation is a sense of panic over the surge beyond the 2 000 per cent mark, defying previous forecasts.”Official projections have been far off the mark and naturally there is anxiety on the part of the officials,” financial analyst Best Doroh told AFP.”But there is no way to water down the figures to match the official predictions because the movement of prices is in the opposite direction to what has been projected.”When the CSO announced a month ago that the February inflation rate had jumped by another 137 points to a staggering 1 730 per cent, it further undermined a prediction by then Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa in December that the figure would fall to around 300 per cent by the end of the year.Witness Chinyama, an economist with finance group Kingdom Financial Holdings, said it was clear the government had once again been unable to halt the inflation juggernaut with the cost of living increasing by the day.”One can speculate that the postponement may be due to figures which could be higher than officials anticipated,” said Chinyama.Nampa-AFPBut a finance ministry staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the CSO was under instructions to “withhold the figures until further notice.”After the inflation announcement was postponed twice last week, also for “technical” reasons, most observers believe the real explanation is a sense of panic over the surge beyond the 2 000 per cent mark, defying previous forecasts.”Official projections have been far off the mark and naturally there is anxiety on the part of the officials,” financial analyst Best Doroh told AFP.”But there is no way to water down the figures to match the official predictions because the movement of prices is in the opposite direction to what has been projected.”When the CSO announced a month ago that the February inflation rate had jumped by another 137 points to a staggering 1 730 per cent, it further undermined a prediction by then Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa in December that the figure would fall to around 300 per cent by the end of the year.Witness Chinyama, an economist with finance group Kingdom Financial Holdings, said it was clear the government had once again been unable to halt the inflation juggernaut with the cost of living increasing by the day.”One can speculate that the postponement may be due to figures which could be higher than officials anticipated,” said Chinyama.Nampa-AFP