Zimbabwe’s rate of inflation continues its rise to stratospheric levels, hitting a record 66,212.3% in December, figures released by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) show.

"The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of December 2007, as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 66,212.3 percent, gaining 39,714.5 percentage points on the November rate of 26,740.8 percent," the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said in a statement released to banks on Thursday.

The new figure means that prices increased over 660 times between December 2006 and December 2007, the highest price increase that Zimbabweans have experienced since the crisis started in 2000.

Last month the International Monetary Fund said Zimbabwe’s inflation for December was around 125 000%. The IMF said the figure had increased to 150 000% in January.

The CSO last released the monthly inflation statistics in September last year and the November figure was only released by the central bank chief in a statement last month.

Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn for the past eight years characterized by galloping inflation and shortages of basic foodstuffs such as sugar and cooking oil.

The CSO said the month-on-month inflation rate for December was 240.1% increasing 108,7 percentage points on the November figure of 131,4%.

"This means that prices as measured by the all-items CPI increased by an average of 240.1% between November and December," the CSO said.

"The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation stood at 309% in December. The month-on-month non-food inflation stood at 199%, gaining 50.4% points on the November 2007 rate of 148.6%.

The consumer price index for December was $441 490 130.8 compared to $129 862 060,8 recorded in November.

At least 80 percent of the population is living below the poverty threshold, often skipping meals to stretch their income, which frequently fails to cover basic needs.

Efforts to rein-in the galloping inflation by government have yielded no positive results, in some cases making the situation worse. Government has toyed around with price freezes, which saw prices of commodities being slashed in half; but this resulted in most basic commodities disappearing from supermarket shelves. Even the lopping off of three zeros from the currency did not work, as the zeros were back within eight months.

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