Zimbabwe has been experiencing significant hyperinflation, resultantly the Consumer Price Index has risen sharply in this year. Consumer Price Index CPI in Zimbabwe increased to 324.60 points in May from 280.50 points in April of 2023. According to Trading Economics, Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Zimbabwe averaged 83.59 points from 2008 until 2023, reaching an all-time high of 324.60 points in May of 2023 and a record low of 15.40 points in June of 2019.

The CPI is an index that measures the rate at which the prices of consumption goods and services are changing from month to month (or from quarter to quarter). A consumer price index (CPI) measures changes in the prices of goods and services that households consume. Such changes affect the real purchasing power of consumers’ incomes and their welfare. 

Following the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 185 of 2020, which allowed entities to quote and sell goods and services in both US$ and ZWL$. ZIMSTAT was publishing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) code named Blended Consumer Price Index. It measures the combined price changes of goods and services in both the USD and ZWL. This entails the blending of the inflation for prices that are quoted in US dollars (US$) and inflation for prices quoted in ZWL. Some analysts argue that the method of measuring price changes in both currencies will distort the effect of the Zimbabwean dollar inflation

The blended Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Zimbabwe increased to 566.40 points in June from 324.60 points in May of 2023. The CPI rose to 175.8% in June 2023 compared to 86.5% in May 2023. The year-on-year inflation rate (annual percentage change) for the month of May 2023 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 86.5 percent, in June 2023 this figure rose 175. 8% .The prices of goods rose by 74.5% in June 2023.

The food poverty line (FPL) as at May 2023 was ZWL$30,108.94. This means that the minimum needs basket cost that much per person in May 2023. This represents an increase of 19.6 percent over the April 2023 figure of ZWL$25,170.43. The Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for Zimbabwe stood at ZWL$39,927.46 per person in May 2023. This means that an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as at May 2023 in order not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 20.8 percent when compared to the April 2023 figure of ZWL$33,044.46.

Consumer Price Index CPI in Zimbabwe is expected to be 390.26 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts’ expectations. In the long-term, the Zimbabwe Consumer Price Index CPI is projected to trend around 538.40 points in 2024 and 662.23 points in 2025, according to econometric models.