Harare/Johannesburg - The 84th birthday of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday was marked by the release of official figures showing that the country's current world record annual rate of inflation had hit 100,000 per cent in January. The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper contained two separate supplements totalling 16 pages filled with commentaries praising him for his leadership qualities and large advertisements, mostly from government ministries and bankrupt state-owned companies, congratulating him on his birthday and declaring their loyalty.
Meanwhile, figures from the official Central Statistical Office said annual inflation in January reached 100,580 per cent from 66,213 per cent in December, while between December and January prices went up 120 per cent, half of the increase between November and December.
Finance Minister Samuel Munbengegwi banned the statistics office from releasing inflation figures in September last year, but observers point out that since the ruling party primary elections for parliamentary candidates last week where he lost his bid to stand, inflation figures for both December and January have been published.
It means Zimbabwe now occupies fifth position in cumulative inflation in the about 50 countries around the world who have suffered chronic high inflation since the 1960s, but is expected to be at the top in a year's time, said Zimbabwean economist Rob Davies. Brazil heads the table with 20.7 trillion per cent inflation that accumulated over a 15 year period.
Zimbabwe has just overtaken Angola to be in fifth place with inflation accumulated over 86 months of 1.5 billion per cent, he said.
"We are a long way behind Brazil, but the increase is very rapid. Prices are going up threefold every month now. If inflation continues to rise at 120 percent a month, we will overtake Zaire (88 billion per cent) in June or July, Nicaragua (288 billion percent) in August, Argentina (3.8 trillion percent) in August and Brazil in February next year."
Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, is blamed for the catastrophic collapse of the once-prosperous nation's economy through reckless policies, corruption and unrestrained spending.
Economists blame Zimbabwe's stratospheric inflation mostly on Mugabe's policy of printing money to pay for government expenditure and price controls.
In the last seven years since Mugabe launched a radical campaign of repression to stay in power in the face of opposition to his continued rule, gross domestic product has shrunk by about 40 per cent, and the currency has crashed to 0.000005 per cent of its value at the time.
In addition, famine has become widespread due to the collapse of food production, ordinary people cannot afford the cost of basic commodities, and the average life expectancy has dropped to 36 years, the lowest in the world.
Mugabe, already the oldest head of state and government in the world, is standing for another presidential term in elections scheduled for March 29 which, if he wins, will see him aged 89 when the term comes to an end.
His victories in the last three elections since 2000 have been dismissed by international observers as the result of fraud, violent intimidation and an electoral system overwhelmingly biased in favour of him and his ruling ZANU(PF) party.
