Zimbabwe inflation estimated at 1 million percent

HARARE - According to recent independent estimates in Zimbabwe, inflation has burst through the 1 million per cent barrier. And weary Zimbabweans now face a new wave of massive price increases that put many basic goods out of reach.

As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of regular locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago a billion local dollars would have bought 60 new cars.

A loaf of bread cost 200 million Zimbabwe dollars - enough for 12 new cars a decade ago. Fresh price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25 fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.

-AP