2010年news broadcast(2/3)

Zimbabwe's inflation rate has soared in the past three months and is now at 11.2 million percent, the highest in the world, according to the country's Central Statistical Office. Official figures dated Monday show inflation has surged from the rate of 2.2 million percent recorded in May, despite the government's price controls. The country's finance minister confirmed the new figure in an interview, but said the rising inflation rate was not confined to Zimbabwe alone. In February, the price of a loaf of bread in the country was less than 200,000 Zimbabwe dollars. On Monday, that same loaf of bread cost 1.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars. Analysts have said the Zimbabwean government's official inflation rate figures are conservative. Last week, one of Zimbabwe's leading banks, Kingdom Bank, said the country's inflation rate was now more than 20 million percent. The locally-owned bank predicted tougher times ahead for Zimbabwe in the absence of donor support and foreign investment in an economy that has been in free fall for almost a decade.