4,500 per cent – and rising

The First Post's exclusive news revealing the latest Zimbabwe inflation statistics will infuriate the government of Robert Mugabe, especially as it has taken considerable steps to make sure they remained a secret. And the possibility still exists that an attempt will be made to massage, or even falsify, the figures.

The Minister of Finance, Samuel Mumbengegwi, issued a confidential departmental directive to delay the announcement, because, he wrote, "they will cause major embarrassment".

He was undoubtedly referring to the recent promise by the Governor of the Central Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, who claimed that month-on-month inflation would decelerate to 25 per