Inflation same as 1920’s Germany

In a document which was circulated to Non Governmental Organisations last week, the IMF said the current rate was the same rate reached by Germany during the Weimar Republic in the 1920s in the post-First World War era.

Although the document has not been released officially, it was availed to government and RBZ officials who attended an IMF seminar as part of a lecture package before the international monetary institution can engage the government on the proposed economic austerity measures to rescue the economy from collapse.

 The document said by November 2007 Zimbabwe’s inflation had reached 85 000 percent which is almost the same level that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reached in November 1993.  

The IMF also said Zimbabwe’s inflation had reached 115 000% by December last year.  

 Zimbabwe is the only country that has reached such alarming inflation levels since the mid 1990s. The government has refused to release inflation figures for the past eight months, ostensibly to hold down the prices of basic commodities.