Zimbabwe deflation persists

Zimbabwe's annual inflation for April climbed by 0.65 percent to -0.26 percent from -0.91 percent in March as the country remains in deflation, the statistics agency said Thursday. Monthly inflation gained 0.81 percent to 0.58 percent in April, up from -0.22 percent the previous month. Zimbabwe, which is facing a serious liquidity crunch worsened by acute shortage of lines of credit and foreign investment, plunged into deflation in February this year after several months of disinflation. Analysts attribute the deflation to weak aggregate demand in the ailing economy, and suggest radical measures to arrest the worrying inflationary trend which comes after years of hyperinflation which only ended with the adoption of multiple currencies in 2009.