Dumisani Muleya
18 October 2007
Johannesburg — ZIMBABWE's annual inflation rate surged to more than 7900% last month as emergency measures by President Robert Mugabe failed to slow the country's economic crisis.
The government's Central Statistical Office (CSO) yesterday said annualised inflation rose to 7982,1% last month from 6592,8% in August, the world's highest rate. Experts estimate that it is actually much worse.
Month-on-month inflation climbed 38,7% last month, the CSO said.
"Year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation stood at 7759%, 149,1 percentage points down from the August 2007 figure of 7908,1%. Non food inflation was 8096,7% from the August figure of 5983,9%," it said.
The economy's decline started when the value of its currency plunged nearly 50% in reaction to unbudgeted expenditures to pay disgruntled former combatants. In the past decade, the decline, worsened by the state's land grab, has spawned widespread poverty, capital flight, mass emigration and a political crisis. The country has little foreign currency and lacks fuel, electricity, food and essential basic goods.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
