/ 28 January 1999

ZIM PRICE HIKES

PRICES of some basic foodstuffs in Zimbabwe are set to go up yet again by an average 20% from mid-February, the second such increase in four months. This follows domestic food manufacturers petitioning the government for the price hikes. They say their companies are threatened with collapse unless they pass on to consumers production costs precipitated by the government’s 67% petrol hike last October and the sharp devaluation of the Zim dollar against most hard currencies. Official sources said the government has agreed in principle, subject to approval of the Cabinet, to grant maize millers a price increase of 10% for their products, flour millers 12%, cooking oil manufacturers 10% and sugar producers 20%, all effective mid-next month.

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