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Accounting Alert

November 2024 Hyperinflation Update

Executive Summary

According to data in the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October 2024, and based on economic conditions that currently exist, Argentina, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Lebanon, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Suriname, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe are now considered to be hyperinflationary from December 31, 2024.  Therefore, reporting entities in those countries will be required to apply PAS 29 'Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies'.  Consequently, any entities with interim or annual financial reporting requirements at December 31, 2024 or thereafter should reflect PAS 29 in their PFRS financial statements.

Additional considerations were made to determine if South Sudan and Ghana are still hyperinflationary. For the time being, they remain hyperinflationary but we will be keeping a close eye on further inflation data from these countries.

Egypt and Nigeria were also assessed due to high inflation numbers for the preceding three-year period. However, in both  cases certain qualitative factors were considered and for now neither is considered to be hyperinflationary.  A close eye should be kept on further inflation data from both of these countries.

Recapping the requirements of PAS 29

  • List factors that indicate when an economy is hyperinflationary.  One of the indicators of hyperinflation is if cumulative inflation over a three-year period approaches, or is more than 100 percent.
  • PAS 29 requires amounts in the statement of financial position that are not already expressed in terms of the measuring unit current at the end of the reporting period, are restated by applying a general price index.
  • For restatement, PAS 29 requires corresponding figures for the previous reporting period to be restated by applying a general price index so that the comparative financial statements are presented in terms of the measuring unit current at the end of the reporting period.​
  • Using PAS 29 may result in the creation of additional temporary differences under PAS 12 ‘Income Taxes’. This is because the restatement of items under PAS 29 will often lead to adjustments to the carrying amounts of items without corresponding changes to their tax bases.  Be mindful that PAS 12 requires these adjustments to be recognized in profit or loss.​
  • Impairment testing should also not be overlooked. PAS 29 requires any restated non-monetary items to be reduced when it exceed its recoverable amount, even if those assets were not previously considered impaired under historical cost accounting. It will be important when preparing financial statements to consider whether the restatement of asset carrying values affects the results of impairment tests that were conducted in previous reporting periods and whether there are any indicators of impairment for assets that were not tested for impairment in previous periods.​

IFRIC decisions relating to hyperinflation

The IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) has previously considered a number of accounting issues in relation to dealing with hyperinflation. These include:​

  • Translating a hyperinflationary foreign operation and presenting exchange differences​
  • Accounting for cumulative exchange differences before a foreign operation becomes hyperinflationary
  • Presenting comparative amounts when a foreign operation first becomes hyperinflationary, and
  • Consolidation of a non-hyperinflationary subsidiary by a hyperinflationary parent.

Consideration should be given to these issues when preparing PFRS financial statements and applying PAS 29.

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