IPTF publishes document for discussion on hyperinflationary economies

On 5 January 2021, the International Practices Task Force (IPTF) of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), an independent body based in the United States, published a new document for discussion identifying countries that are considered to have hyperinflationary economies.

Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, IFRS, IPTF, Hyperinflationary economies, CAQ, FASB, IAS 29

29 March 2021

The document, dated 10 November 2020, has not been considered or acted upon by the SEC (the US securities authority) or the FASB (the US standard-setter). However, it is commonly considered to be a useful reference document for identifying hyperinflationary economies, particularly when applying IAS 29.

The standard itself only provides a list of characteristics of a country’s economic environment that may indicate hyperinflation (notably the fact that the cumulative inflation rate over three years is approaching or exceeds 100%).

In this paper, the IPTF identifies the following countries as having a three-year cumulative inflation rate exceeding 100%: Argentina, Iran, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

However, the IPTF notes that the list is based on available data and does not pretend to be exhaustive (e.g. Syria is omitted).

For more details, the IPTF discussion document is available here.