Zimbabwe's inflation rate jumps to record 66,212%

The annual increase in the cost of living in Zimbabwe reached an astronomical 66,212 per cent in the last month of 2007, according to official statistics.

The country's Central Statistical Office released the figure to local banks on Thursday and it was reported by the state Herald newspaper. 

That was triple the inflation rate of a month earlier. The figure means that prices increased more than 660-fold from the prior year — which amounts to an average of 1.8 per cent every day.

As serious as that is, that's just the official rate. Unofficially, inflation is believed to be much higher.

In January, the International Monetary Fund pegged Zimbabwe's inflation rate at 150,000 per cent.

Zimbabwe's economy has been in a shambles for eight years, with the world's highest inflation rate, a poverty rate approaching 80 per cent and a severe shortage of goods in its stores.

By some accounts, an estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled to other countries.

The country's controversial president, Robert Mugabe, is blamed the most for the crisis. His seizure of white-owned farms in 2000 preceded a collapse in agriculture; the situation worsened from there.

His government's economic policies have steadily fanned the fires of hyperinflation as it sought to finance its operations by printing huge amounts of currency.

Price controls introduced last June only added to the problems, as companies stopped making goods rather than be forced to sell them for less than they cost to make.

A black market in currency exchange is rampant, blackouts are routine and cash is in short supply. Reports say many businesses now pay their workers in food.    

The government recently introduced a $10-million note. That's not enough to buy a kilogram of chicken.  

Mugabe has blamed the country's economic problems on "illegal" sanctions imposed by the West. His ruling Zanu-PF party faces national elections in six weeks.