An average Zimbabwean family of five now requires at least ZWL$11,334 000,about US$140 per month at the interbank rate to survive.
This comes as the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) today (Friday) revealed that the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL), commonly referred to as the Poverty Datum Line (PDL), for one person increased and now stands at ZWL$ 2,267.00, while that for an average of five persons per household is pegged at ZWL $11,334.00.
This means that an individual requires that much to purchase both non-food and food items as of today (Friday) in order not to be deemed poor.
If an individual does not consume more than the TCPL, he or she is deemed poor.
The analysis uses the per capita consumption expenditure, and an average of five persons is used based on the average size of households as established by the 2012 Population Census.
The continuous rise in the cost of living exhibits the effect of hyperinflation which is mostly attributed to the unstable exchange rate which sees the local currency losing value against the United States dollar.
The majority of Zimbabweans are living below the Poverty Datum Line as many of those formally employed are earning less than $5 000 per month, meaning most workers’ salaries are about half the PDL.
A significant number of workers’ salaries are almost half the PDL, leaving them struggling to make ends meet.
