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Inflation in Zimbabwe Soars to 782 Pct.
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Inflation for the 12 months to February soared to an all-time high of 782 percent in Zimbabwe, the Central Statistical Office has announced.
In a broadcast Saturday, state radio said prices rose 27.5 percent during the month of February alone, with an average family of five needing Zimbabwean $9 million, or $90 at the official exchange rate, just to meet basic food needs.
Trade unions say that those still in formal employment — about 20 percent of the work force — were earning an average of Z$5 million to Z$6 million ($50-$60) a month. Workers on formerly white-owned commercial farms, by contrast, were receiving as low as Z$300,000 ($3) a month from their employers, many of them beneficiaries of President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land redistribution program.
Farm production, exports and the value of the Zimbabwean dollar, worth $2 at 1980 independence, went into free fall after Mugabe ordered seizure of 5,000 farms in February 2000. United Nations agencies say 3 million Zimbabweans are now dependent on international food relief.
The country was for many years a major food exporter to the region.
Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run Statistical Office, said soaring rentals were a significant factor while prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages rose 824 percent in the 12 months to the end of February 2006.
State radio forecast inflation would fall to 200 percent by the year end in the wake of a predicted "bumper harvest by new farmers," but an all-party parliamentary committee warned before the November start of this season's rains that production would be at an all-time low due to shortages of diesel, seed, fertilizer, chemicals, functioning farm machinery and skilled labor.
Farmworkers of Malawian, Zambian or Mozambican descent have been forced to return to their parents' and grandparents' countries of origin following eviction by Mugabe's land recipients.
The International Monetary Fund's Executive Board decided Wednesday not to allow Zimbabwe to use fund general resources, even though it had settled $120 million in arrears it owed this facility.
It noted that "Zimbabwe's economic crisis calls for urgent implementation of a comprehensive policy package comprising several mutually reinforcing actions in the area of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reforms."
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Inflation for the 12 months to February soared to an all-time high of 782 percent in Zimbabwe, the Central Statistical Office has announced.
In a broadcast Saturday, state radio said prices rose 27.5 percent during the month of February alone, with an average family of five needing Zimbabwean $9 million, or $90 at the official exchange rate, just to meet basic food needs.
Trade unions say that those still in formal employment — about 20 percent of the work force — were earning an average of Z$5 million to Z$6 million ($50-$60) a month. Workers on formerly white-owned commercial farms, by contrast, were receiving as low as Z$300,000 ($3) a month from their employers, many of them beneficiaries of President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land redistribution program.
Farm production, exports and the value of the Zimbabwean dollar, worth $2 at 1980 independence, went into free fall after Mugabe ordered seizure of 5,000 farms in February 2000. United Nations agencies say 3 million Zimbabweans are now dependent on international food relief.
The country was for many years a major food exporter to the region.
Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run Statistical Office, said soaring rentals were a significant factor while prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages rose 824 percent in the 12 months to the end of February 2006.
State radio forecast inflation would fall to 200 percent by the year end in the wake of a predicted "bumper harvest by new farmers," but an all-party parliamentary committee warned before the November start of this season's rains that production would be at an all-time low due to shortages of diesel, seed, fertilizer, chemicals, functioning farm machinery and skilled labor.
Farmworkers of Malawian, Zambian or Mozambican descent have been forced to return to their parents' and grandparents' countries of origin following eviction by Mugabe's land recipients.
The International Monetary Fund's Executive Board decided Wednesday not to allow Zimbabwe to use fund general resources, even though it had settled $120 million in arrears it owed this facility.
It noted that "Zimbabwe's economic crisis calls for urgent implementation of a comprehensive policy package comprising several mutually reinforcing actions in the area of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reforms."