THE basket for a family of six rose to $562,52 for the month of August from $561,32 in July due to an increases in the food basket, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) has said.
Business Reporter
According to CCZ, the family basket rose by $1,20 due to an 88-cent increase in food basket from the July figure.
During the month of August, margarine 500g prices increased by 7 cents to $2,30, 10kg mealie-meal was up 28 cents to $11,98, 500ml fresh milk increased to 73 cents from 70 cents in July. Flour 2kg increased a cent up to $1,89 while rice 2kg, salt and washing powder 500g rose by 16 cents.
The developments come at a time when the country’s inflation rate has been easing on the back of a weakening rand.
Decreases were noted in the prices of a kilogramme of beef, that went down to $3,85 from $3,90 while 750ml cooking oil was down to $1,75 from $1,78. Prices for tomatoes a kilogramme declined by 14 cents to 61cents, onions went down to 95 cents, cabbage declined 6 cents to 49 cents while laundry soap fell 4 cents to $1,25.
“The price decrease in tomatoes and onions can be attributed to the seasonal increase in supply in the market,” the consumer watchdog has said. CCZ said prices of other basic commodities such as sugar, tea leaves, bread and bath soap, remained unchanged from July.
Experts say consumers are hard pressed for cash due to liquidity constraints besetting the economy. The majority of the consumers are earning salaries that are below the poverty datum line at $500 per month.
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According to the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency, year-on-year inflation for the month of July stood at 1,25% shedding 0,62 percentage points on the June 2013 rate at 1,87%. This means that prices measured by the all-items index increased by an average of 1,25 percentage points between July 2012 to this year.
Year-on-year food and non-alcoholic inflation stood at 1,74% while the non-food rate was 1,00%.
In January this year annual inflation opened at 2,5% and softened in the first six months of this year to 1,9%.
