Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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July 16, 2008

Bank Chief Says Zimbabwe's Inflation Has Hit 2.2 Million Percent 
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Previous inflation figure released by government put country's inflation
rate at 165,000 percent in February 
Zimbabwe's bank chief says the country's inflation rate has skyrocketed
to 2.2 million percent, the world's highest rate of inflation.The
previous inflation figure released by the Zimbabwe government put the
country's inflation rate at 165,000 percent in February.Central bank
Governor Gideon Gono Wednesday announced the new figure provided by
Zimbabwe's central statistical office.Zimbabwe also suffers from 80
percent unemployment. An estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled
to South Africa because of their country's economic collapse.In recent
months, Zimbabweans have also fled political violence leading up to a
one-man presidential runoff election on June 27.Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe was re-elected in the widely-condemned vote, after
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of the race, citing
state-sponsored violence against his supporters.The ruling and
opposition parties are discussing terms for talks aimed at settling the
political crisis.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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