Inflation falls in February

17/03/2011 00:00:00
by Reuters

ZIMBABWE’S annual inflation slowed to 3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, the National Statistical Agency said on Wednesday.

Monthly inflation dropped to 0.5 percent from 0.9 percent previously.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said early this month inflation would end 2011 at 4.5 percent year-on-year and reiterated that the economy would grow as much as 9.3 percent.

Zimbabwe’s economy was battered by hyper-inflation which reached 500 billion percent in 2008. The price index has since dropped to single digits following the adoption of multi-currencies in 2009.
Inflation quickened to 3.3 percent year-on-year in January.
Biti said growth this year would be driven by agriculture and mining.

"We have a bumper crop this year and I believe that in terms of maize production we will be second only to South Africa in the region.”