Zimbabwe records reduction in trade deficit; inflation 2.3% up

Zimbabwe’s trade deficit decreased from US$179.8 million in July 2023 to US$170.1 million in August 2023, the Zimbabwe Economic Review reports.

This follows an increase of exports by 7.7% from US$603.2 million in July 2023 to US$649.8 million in August 2023 while imports rose by a lower magnitude of 4.7% from US$ 783.1 million to US$ 819.9 million in the same period.

Be that as it may, gold remains zimbabwe’s major export commodity. Semi-manufactured gold accounted for (21.6%) of the exports, Nickel mattes (17.3%), Tobacco (13%), and other mineral substances contributed (21.5%).

Apparently, fuel remains Zimbabwe major import commodity.

The country’s main imports in August were composed of; mineral fuels & mineral products (19.4%), machinery & mechanical appliances (14.2%), vehicles (8.4%), and electrical machinery & equipment (6.6%).

And according to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZimStat) inflation rate for the month of September 2023 rose by 2.3% points from -1.3% in August 2023 and currently stands at 1.0%.

Year-on-year inflation: 18.4%. Major drivers to the September 2023 month-on-month inflation rate of 1,0% were, food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.33%), education (0.25%) and communication (0.15%).

Zwnews