Zimbabwe officials say the economy is already suffering the adverse effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia invaded Ukraine almost two months ago claiming it wanted to denazify and demilitarise its neighbouring country.
The Zimbabwean currency continues to depreciate drastically and is now ranging between 280 and 300 Zimbabwe dollars to one US dollar on the parallel market while officially trading at 145 to the US dollar.
The country’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says the Russian-Ukraine conflict is severely disrupting the country’s and global supply chains.
He says this has triggered price hikes of basic commodities and a further worsening of the situation for many Zimbabweans.
“Those of you who are importing raw materials would have seen prices for your raw materials have been going up since the middle of last year. Initially any stealth, you see the prices gathering pace towards the third and last quarter and then finally boom first quarter of this year with the tensions, prices have shot up. So, we are importing inflation and that’s a tough spot for any economy to be in. It is never easy to control and ameliorate the impacts of imported inflation. “
Zimbabwean Economist Eddie Cross says the cost of the country’s imports has been accelerating thus contributing to the high inflation:
