cent by the end of this year.

To say other authorities disagree with Gideon is a considerable understatement. The International Monetary Fund has projected that Zimbabwe's annual inflation would hit 6,470 per cent in 2008. And other analysts maintain that the actual figure is already above the 5,000 per cent figure, and could even rise to 10,000 per cent.

This week's figures show that, even officially, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index surged 816.1 percentage points, from 3,713.9 per cent in April to 4,530 per cent in May.

These ever-increasing rates, the result of Zimbabwe's basic economic mismanagement and the destruction of agriculture in the country, are fuelled by the government's simplistic policy of printing money in order to pay

civil servants and the armed forces. While in a desperate attempt to stem the flow, the Central Reserve Bank remains the largest buyer of foreign currency on the black market.

None of these figures make much impact on the average Zimbabwean. Unemployment now runs at more than 80 per cent, and even those in some kind of formal employment earn less than Z$1m a month. It is estimated that the avarage family of husband, wife and four children needs at least Z$5.5m to pay for basic food and shelter. People live from day to day, from hand to mouth.

The government expects 'major embarrassment' if the present rate is published. What kind of embarrassment will it expect when all semblance of control is abandoned and the country sinks back into the Stone Age?