Prices zoom out of control in Zimbabwe

Hard-pressed Zimbabwean consumers are in the throes of skyrocketing grocery bills that are likely to deprive them of the joys of Christmas, with unofficial inflation figures showing that food prices have gone up by between 20 to 100% in the past month.

The price spikes are wreaking havoc in the labour markets by eroding incomes at a time when employers, who are equally struggling, could hardly afford pay rises that can keep up with the rising breadline.

Prices of basic goods such as mealie-meal, meat, soap, toiletries, rice, sugar and vegetables are shooting up due to a worsening currency crisis worsened by critical foreign currency shortages.