Consumer prices in Zimbabwe rose 240 percent in the month of December, taking year-on-year inflation to a new record of annual 66,212 per cent, up from less than 1100 percent a year earlier.

The figures provide stark confirmation of the complete failure of the government’s price roll-back policy imposed in June. When the draconian price controls were imposed annual inflation was 7,250 per cent and the monthly rate was 86 per cent, but by year-end the annual rate had surged nearly tenfold.