US says Zimbabwe change is afoot

Ambassador Dell

Zimbabwe, (06/24) - Zimbabwe`s hyperinflation will force President Robert Mugabe from power, the US ambassador to the country has said.

Speaking to a UK newspaper, Christopher Dell predicted that inflation will leap to 1.5m% by the end of the year.

He said political discontent at Mr. Mugabe`s "disastrous economic policies" meant Zimbabwe was "committing regime change upon itself".

Zimbabwe has 80% unemployment and independent economists say inflation is running at 11,000% per year.

On Thursday, the value of the Zimbabwean dollar plummeted with black market exchange rates reaching 300,000 Zimbabwean dollars to one US dollar. The official rate is 15,000 to one.

"I believe inflation will hit 1.5m% by the end of 2007, if not before," Mr Dell told the Guardian newspaper, adding that he believed this was a "modest forecast".

He said prices were going up twice a day and people were turning to bartering rather than using rapidly devaluing cash.