Inflation hits one million percent as prices continue to skyrocket

Independent financial assessment on Tuesday reported that annual inflation rose this month to 1,063 572 percent based on the price of a basket of basic foodstuffs.
As stores opened for business on Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of Z$1 billion. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars.
Journalist Angus Shaw said a loaf of bread now costs Z$200-million, enough for 12 new cars a decade ago. One kilogram of chicken more than doubled to Z$1-billion on Tuesday. He added that fresh price rises are expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.
The collapsing economy was a major concern of voters who dealt long-time leader Robert Mugabe a defeat in the March 29th elections. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about five million percent by October.
The official annual inflation, already by far the highest in the world, was given by the regime as 165 000 percent in February, but since then the government has not updated that figure. The state statistical service has said there are not enough goods in the shortage-stricken shops to calculate any new figures.