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Thanks to Clive for the ping to this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803969/posts

"Inflation to hit 5,000 percent mark this year: IMF"
Posted on 03/20/2007 2:42:57 PM PDT by Clive

"Inflation to hit 5 000 percent mark this year: IMF"

Monday 19 March 2007
By Justin Muponda

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "HARARE – Zimbabwe’s economic crisis will heighten further in the coming months with inflation breaching the 5 000 percent mark by year-end as President Robert Mugabe battles to contain a deep recession that is seen destabilising the region, a senior IMF official said.

International Monetary Fund Africa (IMF) Director Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane said Harare had shown little signs of coming to grips with its damaging economic problems, promising more hardships as political tensions escalate.

"It depends on how much the people in the country can take," Bio-Tchane was quoted by the international media as saying.

"The question is how far it could fall. The last four years we've seen GDP falling by more than 35 percent. Inflation is running at more than 1 700 percent and our estimate is by the year's end, it could move even beyond 5 000 percent."

Bio-Tchane spoke as Mugabe's government drew international outrage for assaulting in police custody Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition officials who were violently stopped from attending a prayer rally in Highfield.

The United States and Britain, which Mugabe accuses of punishing his government and plotting his downfall, have led the chorus of condemnation and threatened to tighten sanctions further against the Zimbabwean leader and his inner circle."