Zimbabwe Inflation Of 231 Million Percent Understates Risk - Economist

Inflation soared to an annual rate of 231 million percent in July, the State run-Herald newspaper on Thursday quoted the country's Central Statistical Office as saying, a huge leap from the official June inflation rate which was given as 11.2 million percent.

But independent economists in Zimbabwe and abroad say the figures do not reflect an economic reality in which the cost of living is soaring astronomically.

U.S economist Steven Hanke, an expert on hyperinflation who has consulted to countries on stabilizing prices, recently estimated that inflation hit 531 billion percent in September, while Zimbabwean economist John Robertson reckoned it ran at some 26 billion percent.

Robertson told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that such mind-boggling estimates and projections accurately reflect what could come to pass if there is no government in place soon to launch an economic stabilization program.

More reports from VOA'S Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...