Zimbabwe's sky-high inflation seems understated

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Anna Chagaro bought a loaf of bread three months ago for 300,000 Zimbabwe dollars - a sum that today would be a bargain in this landlocked nation in southeast Africa.

After a three-hour wait at her neighborhood store, the office worker recently paid 1.7 million for a loaf.

Like most people, she does not believe official estimates released yesterday that put inflation at 24,470 percent.

Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 150,000 percent in Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since independence in 1980.

"Ah, they lie. Prices are going through the roof every day and everyone knows it," Chagaro said.

If she spent her entire monthly income of 40 million Zimbabwe dollars at the dominant black-market exchange rate, about $10, she could buy a pound of pork and a small pack of onions.

Scarce cornmeal has risen 20-fold in a year. About $6 buys a month's supply on the black market for a small family.

Official inflation numbers are based on prices fixed by the government. Those prices are rarely observed.

When thousands of business managers and store owners were arrested last year for failing to adhere to artificial government pricing, basic goods disappeared.

Ordinary Zimbabweans do their own calculations using supermarket receipts.

The price for two pounds of chicken rose more than 236,000 percent during the last year, to 15 million Zimbabwe dollars, or about $3; eggs rose 153,000 percent, and bread 100,000 percent.

"How do we cope? We don't," Chagaro said. "If we have a meal a day we are lucky."