By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation hit a record 231 million percent and the opposition said on Thursday no progress had been made on forming a power-sharing cabinet, dimming prospects for a rescue of the ruined economy.
Speaking at a news conference, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he had made compromises on many issues but both sides remained divided on sharing ministries.
He spoke hours after staggering new inflations figures were issued.
Many Zimbabweans have resorted to bartering goods and rely on help from relatives abroad, mostly in South Africa, for supplies of scant basic foodstuffs like maize, sugar and cooking oil.
A loaf of bread which cost Z$500 (5 pounds) when the central bank redenominated the Zimbabwe dollar on August 1, now goes for at least Z$7,000.
Central Statistical Office data showed that on a monthly basis, prices in July shot up by 2,600.2 percent compared with 839.3 percent in June, largely driven by high prices of bread and cereals.
The yearly inflation figure was 11.2 million percent in June, official figures showed on Thursday, and raced to 231 million percent in July.
An outline agreement signed on September 15 has stalled over the most important cabinet posts, angering Zimbabweans who have had to endure the world's fastest price rises, shortages of food, foreign currency and crumbling infrastructure. Both sides accuse each other of jeopardising the process.
"What is baffling is that the political players seem to take a cavalier attitude over the political crisis whose resolution is tied to the economic turnaround," said Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at University of Zimbabwe.
"The consequences of such a rate of inflation is absolute desperation, despair and poverty. The politicians don't seem to realise that what they do or don't do has an effect on the economy."
(Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Keith Weir)
