Zimbabwe’s inflation is 515% not ZimStats’ 285%, says Steve Hanke

Renowned Applied Economics Professor at John Hopkins University Steve Hanke says Zimbabwe’s real annual inflation figure for August is 515%, the highest in the world; which is different from the official 285%.

Hanke says “clowns” in Harare are running Zimstats, which measures inflation.

Officially, Zimbabwe’s inflation climbed further to 285% in August, from 256.9% in the prior month.

It was the highest reading since February of 2021, amid rampant price increases, fuelled by exchange rate volatility, money supply and global fuel price hikes.

Hanke is on record calling on the Government of Zimbabwe to dump the local currency and dollarise immediately.

ZimStats recently attacked Hanke over his calculations which according to them paint a gloomy picture for the country.

Apparently, a number of economists share the same sentiments with Hanke, the Harare administration says it will not dollarise.

Recently, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced gold coins in a bid to allow people to restore value.

However, many people say the gold coins are beyond their reach.

Others even claim that gold coins were put in place to facilitate corruption by those in high offices.

Zwnews/ Newshawks