Zimbabwe inflation rises to 4.9%

Harare - Inflation in Zimbabwe rose to 4.9% in December from 4.2% in November, spurred by the increased cost of food, transport and education, the government said Monday.

"The month-on-month inflation rate in December 2011 was 0.2% shedding 0.3 percentage points on the November 2011 rate of 0.5%," the national statistics agency said in a statement.

Zimbabwe's economy was ravaged by world record hyperinflation which officially peaked at 231 million percent before the government stopped counting, with shops resembling empty sheds.

The economy has stabilised since 2009, when longtime political rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a unity government and dumped the worthless local dollar in favour of the US dollar and other regional currencies.

Goods that were in short supply or unavailable are back on the shelves, but in recent months prices have started going up after the government increased import duties.

Zimbabwe relies on imports from neighbouring South Africa after a decade-long economic downturn forced factories to downsize or pull down the shutters.

Source: www.fin24.com

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