Zim inflation jumps to 231m %
2008-10-09 19:26
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabwe's annual inflation raced to a record 231m %in July, up from 11.2m %the previous month, deepening a severe economic crisis, official figures showed on Thursday.
Central Statistical Office data showed that on a monthly basis, prices shot up by 2 600.2% compared to 839.3% in June, largely driven by high prices of bread and cereals.
The southern African nation is in the throes of debilitating economic turmoil, which many Zimbabweans had hoped would ease following a landmark power-sharing deal signed between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai last month.
The agreement signed on September 15 has stalled over key cabinet posts, angering Zimbabweans who have had to endure the world's fastest price rises, shortages of food, foreign currency and crumbling infrastructure.
The World Bank says Zimbabwe has the world fastest shrinking economy for a country not at war.
Critics say Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, has wrecked a once prosperous country through reckless policies such as seizing vast tracts of commercial farms from whites to resettle the majority blacks.
Mugabe in turn blames his Western foes for imposing punitive sanctions which he says have hurt the poor.
- Reuters
- Reuters