Inflation rate at 2.75% -- per DAY

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has finally released the April inflation figures which show that Zimbabwe’s "number one enemy" has shot past the 1 000% mark. Items that recorded the highest increases in prices were postal services (5 180.4%), hairdressing salons (4 454. 3%) and rent (3 787.8%) The month on month inflation was 21.1% gaining 1.3 percentage points on the March 2006 rate of 19.8%, said the CSO.

Analysts say Mugabe has dented Zimbabwe's investment image with his seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks, and that government plans to acquire a 51 percent stake in all foreign-owned mines will keep external funding at bay. Political analysts say rising hardships in Zimbabwe's major towns -- where residents are struggling with water and electricity shortages and cuts, crumbling sewerage systems, deteriorating roads, costly housing and transport problems -- are pushing many towards the limit of their endurance.