The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) says the Cost of Living for a family of five is now US$499.96 for December, last year. The COL had shot up mainly due to escalating prices of bread, fuel, fresh milk and tea leaves, the CCZ said. In an interview, a senior CCZ official said : @The cost of living has gone up to US$499.96 for a family of five. The food basket has gone up to US$144.19 from US$142.77 in December, 2010. The items that went up include tea leaves, bread, fresh milk, and fuel.@
He said there could be other huge increases later this year as Zimbabwe grapples with more problems. Fuel went up by an average of eight cents last week leading to various other increases including transport costs for people coming to work for 2011. This, he said, thus made a mockery of the so-called low inflation now conservatively pegged at about 5 percent in Zimbabwe.