(Last Updated on January 26, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency(ZIMSTAT) says it will start to disseminate Consumer Price Index (CPI) information within the same month the data is collected with effect from January 2021.
Following the adoption of computerised data collection and processing, the agency said it will now be releasing this data on the 27th of every month.
Previously, ZIMSTAT used to publish the inflation statistics 30 days after the collection due to the paper-based model that was in use.
“ZIMSTAT would like to inform users that, from January 2021, Consumer Price Index (CPI), will be disseminated in the same month of data collection. Data collection is normally done for 5 working days around the 15th of every month. Therefore the date of dissemination will be the 27th of every month.
“This has been made possible by the adoption of computerisation in data collection and processing. Prior to this date collection was paper-based. As a result, ZIMSTAT was publishing inflation figures 30 days after data collection,” said the agency.
This will be a welcome development in the country as this will allow for a much-improved analysis of the economic figures and statistics.
Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube recently appointed the new seven-member board at the agency which will be chaired by Dr Naomi Wekwete.