Zimbabwe’s tortuous economy has been causing headaches for companies listed on the local stock exchange, it emerged on Tuesday, particularly on the question of how one calculates inflation-adjusted half-year results if no one knows what the true figure is.
The state-run Central Statistical Office (CSO) stopped releasing official inflation data three months ago when Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate stood at more than 3 000%.
Critics said at the time that President Robert Mugabe’s government wanted to suppress the highly embarrassing figures. Estimates of the current inflation rate differ wildly: from well over 4 500% to at least 13 000%.
Anxious that all 30 or so companies due to release their half-year results do so using the same figure, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has had to engage chartered accountants to come up with a definitive rate, the state-controlled Herald daily reports.
”We are hoping to have a flat rate that will be used by all companies in their half-year financial results,” ZSE chief executive Emmanuel Munyukwi said.
Mugabe last month ordered massive price slashes in a bid to cut inflation. But growing shortages of many basics in shops across Zimbabwe are leading to fears that prices on the black market will soar.
The authorities have been forced to up the price of beef by more than 50% in a bid to fill shop freezers, empty of meat since early in July, the Herald said in a separate report.
Beef will now sell at Z$144 000 dollars per kilo, up from Z$90 000, said the newspaper. There are reports some butcheries in the east of the country have been selling meat at night to try to dodge price inspectors.
As shortages bite, the International Monetary Fund has predicted annual inflation in once-prosperous Zimbabwe could reach a staggering 100 000% by year end. — Sapa-dpa