Rents in crisis-ridden Zimbabwe have shot up by as much as 1 500 percent since the authorities announced a record new inflation figure last week, it was reported on Sunday.

Landlords are now demanding a host of other payments, including toilet rolls, groceries and compulsory dress codes, the state- controlled Sunday Mail newspaper said.

Inflation has been on a relentless upward climb in

Zimbabwe since the turn of the century, linked, critics say, to President Robert Mugabe’s controversial policies including his programme of white land seizures.

Last week the Central Statistical Office said the figure had reached 3 714 percent.

After reading about the new rate of inflation, a number of landlords hiked their rentals as a way of hedging them against the negative effects of inflation, Abraham Sadomba, a board member of the Estate Agents’ Council, was quoted as saying. 

In the central Avenues area, popular with trendy young professionals, rentals have been hiked from around ZIM$300 000 (about R8 500) to five-million dollars a month, the newspaper said. It said the hikes were illegal.

Mugabe’s government is fighting what appears to be a losing battle against rising prices as retailers and property owners peg their prices against sliding parallel market rates for the

Zimbabwe dollar.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has painted a gloomy picture of

Zimbabwe’s immediate recovery prospects, forecasting inflation could exceed 6 000 percent next year. - Sapa-dpa

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