A memo from the Central Bank, which was distributed to all financial institutions in the country indicated that the RBZ had pegged inflation at 24 000 percent for the purposes of balancing and closing books of accounts for 2007.
The CSO stopped providing data on inflation in September saying it could not find prices for key goods because they were not on store shelves. "You are hereby advised to use the 24 059 percent year-on-year inflation figure for November in the compilation of financial results for the period ending December 2007."
Recent estimates of Zimbabwean inflation by independent economists have tended to run quite a bit higher, ranging from 50 000 percent to 100 000 percent.
An economist with the Labour and Economic Research Institute of Zimbabwe, (LEDRIZ) Prosper Chitambara said the 24 000 percent estimate by the central bank was conservative. Another economist, Eric Bloch, who has been a consultant to the central bank, however said the 12-month inflation rate could be around the 25 000 percent mark.
Critics said Gono’s policies in 2007 did not do much to rectify the economic problems in Zimbabwe.
“In short the last year has been a complete disaster,” said Calisto Jokonya, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
“All the policies that were put in place did not work, be it from the reserve bank and the ministry of finance. Inflation soared, goods disappeared from the shops, cash also disappeared. This was the year of queues.”
“It (2007) required a certain degree of financial dexterity to survive,” Martin Tarusenga, a consultant with the information technology firm Systemics Consultant, wrote in the private Zimbabwe Independent weekly.
“With all the problems that have come with Zimbabwe’s economic crisis, it is surprising that many companies have still managed to pull through 2007.”
An IMF official recently said Zimbabwe was heading down the same path as Weimar Germany, though if the more pessimistic current estimates were correct, the country had already exceeded the Weimar peak of 32 400 percent attained in 1923.
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HARARE, Zimbabwe 12/28/2007 -- THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has doctored inflation figures for the last part of 2007 to 24,000%, from the estimated of 14,000% officially published
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