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Zimbabwe prices doubled during April
Mail & Guardian (SA)
May 17, 2007

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=308647

Zimbabwe's cost of living doubled in a single month in April as annual inflation surged to 3 713,9%, a further sign of economic turmoil in a country where four in five people are jobless.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) said on Thursday prices jumped by 100,7% last month after a 50,5% rise in March, when annual inflation had been 2 200,2%.

Raging inflation is the most visible sign of a deep economic crisis which critics say has been worsened by President Robert Mugabe's policies, such as his seizure of white-owned farms to redistribute to black Zimbabweans.

An economic recession has seen unemployment soar to around 80% and sparked shortages of foreign exchange, food and fuel, leaving many Zimbabwean families unable to feed themselves.

The CSO said prices of domestic power, food, fuel and commuter transport fares had contributed to last month's increase.

The central bank early this year projected the inflation rate would come down to between 300% to 400% but analysts said those projections would not be achieved. The International Monetary Fund had seen inflation accelerating to 3 000% by the end of the year.

Economic analysts see more price pressures from the imports of the staple maize to plug a huge deficit this year. They say the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe could be forced to scrounge for foreign currency on the black market, further weakening the country's already battered currency and pushing up food prices.

Zimbabwe's foreign currency crunch worsened after donors and investors shunned Mugabe's government over its policies, such as the land seizures.

On Saturday, the European Union and the United States -- which have imposed travel and financial sanctions on Mugabe's government -- were critical of Zimbabwe's election to chair the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.

A US official said Harare was unsuitable to head the agency because its agriculture, which used to be the breadbasket of the Southern African region, was now on its knees.

Mugabe has defended the land reforms as necessary to redress colonial land imbalances that left 70% of the most fertile land in the hands of 4 500 white farmers, and accuses Western powers of sabotaging the economy.

Lack of farming inputs Meanwhile, Zimbabwe farmers have only planted 10% of the targeted winter wheat crop hectarage just two weeks before the recommended planting deadline lapses, official media reported, stoking fears of bread shortages.

The black farmers have complained of lack of farming inputs such as fertilisers, chemicals, seed and fuel, and some lack commercial farming skills.

A parliamentary portfolio committee on agriculture was told that the target of 76 000 hectares -- which would have produced 400 000 tonnes of wheat -- would not be achieved due to shortages of fuel and fertiliser.

Wheat is the country's second staple grain, after maize. - Reuters

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