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Herald Reporter
Inflation in January gained 0,08 percent to 0,41 percent on the December 2013 figure of 0,33 percent, reflecting pressure from housing, education and healthcare.
According to the latest data from ZimStat, year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation remained largely subdued at a negative 2,08 percent.

This is largely due to the weakening of the South African rand and, to a lesser extent, the low aggregate demand obtaining in the economy.

The rand factor has kept a damper on inflation since last year but this time round it has been overwhelmed by inflationary pressures in the non-food basket of the consumer price index. Annual non-food inflation stood at 1,67 percent in January.

On the annual weights, health was 1,87 percent in the positive, transport at 2,76 percent, pre-primary and primary education changed 11,3 percent and rentals were at 11,3 percent.

Month-on-month inflation in January was at 0,14 percent, gaining 0,22 percentage points on the December rate of -0,08 percent.
The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic inflation stood at 0,44 percent, gaining 0,85 percent on the December rate of -0.41 percent.