Zimbabwe's annual inflation soared to 231 million percent in July, a state daily reported Thursday citing official statistics.

PRAGUE, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Czech annual consumer price growth grew to 6.6 percent in September from August's 6.5 percent, pumped by fast-growing power, gas and heating prices, the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) said Wednesday.

TEHRAN, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Iran's inflation topped 29 percent in the calendar month of Shahrivar that ended September 21, continuing an upward trend of the past few months, a central bank report said on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) in urban areas increased by 29.4 percent compared to the same month a year earlier, the Mehr news agency quoted the bank as saying.

GENEVA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - A focus on inflation by policymakers is 'misguided,' the United Nations Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD) said Tuesday, as it urged governments to take action to stimulate a rapidly slowing world economy.

BANJUL, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Five butchers in Gambia, a tiny west African country hard hit by the global food crisis, were sentenced to four months in prison on Monday for hiking up meat prices.

RIGA, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - As Latvia struggles with recession, betting on official monthly inflation figures has become an opportunity to strike it rich with bookmakers offering attractive odds.

Internet users can place wagers on September year-on-year annual inflation figures due to be released by the Latvian office of statistics on Wednesday.

Ethiopia, which subsidises petrol, has raised prices by more than five
percent and public transport fares accordingly, the government said in
a statement

ACCRA, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - Leaders of the world's poorest countries met Friday to wrap up a summit focused on how to stop escalating food and fuel prices amid financial market turbulence in developed nations.

ANKARA, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - Turkey will return to its old currency, the Turkish Lira, on January 1, after a major money reform four years ago that saw the introduction of the New Turkish Lira, officials said Friday.

Central Bank governor Durmus Yilmaz predicted that inflationist pressure triggered by the global financial crisis would have only a minimal effect on the new currency.

ACCRA, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Leaders of the world's poorest nations on Thursday began talks on tackling food and energy crises, but also sought to conclude a crucial joint deal on trade with the European Union.

ACCRA, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Leaders of the world's poorest nations were Thursday hammering out ways to tackle food and energy crises as the West was warned not to use the current financial crisis to default on aid pledges.

ACCRA, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Leaders of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations began a summit Thursday aimed at tackling food and energy issues but likely to be dominated by the impact of financial turmoil in developed countries.

The two-day summit in Ghana is expected to call on the international community to agree on a strategy to stabilise oil prices at affordable levels.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Mauritania will ban the export of three varieties of fish due to the food crisis in the country, an internal government memorandum showed on Thursday.

TEHRAN, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - The increase in food prices accelerated in Iran in September, when the cost of a Basketball of 45 staple food items showed a mighty leap of nearly 50 percent from the same month a year earlier, the Kargozaran newspaper reported Sunday, citing central bank figures.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Inflation in OPEC member Kuwait hit 11.35 percent in June, a government official said on Sunday. The figure was just slightly off its all-time high of 11.4 percent recorded in April.

The consumer price index in June hit 130.5 points compared with 117.2 points a year ago, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

TEHRAN, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - The rise in food prices accelerated in Iran in September, when the cost of a Basketball of 45 staple items showed a mighty leap of nearly 50 percent, a newspaper reported on Sunday, citing central bank figures.

TOKYO, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Japanese inflation stayed at a decade high in August, official figures showed Friday, amid signs rising prices are becoming more widely entrenched in Asia's largest economy.

Core consumer prices rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, up for an 11th straight month, the government said.

Zimbabwe's central bank chief said nearly 600 shops had
been licenced to sell goods in foreign currency

OTTAWA, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - Canada's inflation climbed to a five-year high of 3.5 percent in August from a year earlier, largely due to higher gasoline prices, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

But from July to August, inflation was actually down 0.2 percent, the government agency said.

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - South Africa's annual rate of inflation, driven by higher costs for power, food and transport, rose to 13.7 percent in August from 13.4 percent in July for its highest level since 2002, the statistics agency said Tuesday.

Running at around five percent at the start of last year, a consistent rise in prices put the figure above 10 percent in March.

MANILA, Sept 21, 2008 (AFP) - Sagging farm productivity and increasing demand have brought the world to a crossroads in terms of food security, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said Sunday.

CAIRO, Sept 21, 2008 (AFP) - Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said on Sunday that he could see an end to rampant inflation, which hit an annual rate of over 25 percent this year.

'The worst is behind us. We are just winding down what was in the system,' he told reporters.

NAIROBI, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund has approved a 20-million-dollar (14-million-euro) loan to war-battered Djibouti, a statement said late Thursday.

Six million dollars will be disbursed immediately to cushion the Horn of Africa nation against the food and oil price shocks.

CAIRO, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - The Egyptian Central Bank has raised its leading interest rates by half a percentage point for the sixth time this year in a continuing struggle to control inflation, which has reached a nationwide pace of 25.6 percent year-on-year, the official MENA news agency reported.

MONROVIA, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The World Food Programme is ramping up its school meal scheme in Liberia in response to rising food prices, the UN agency and Liberian authorities said.

In the capital Monrovia, some 150,000 schoolchildren will be added to the programme, on top of the 400,000 rural youngsters already getting extra meals from the UN food relief agency.

ROME, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - The international goal of cutting hunger by half by 2015 appears 'even more remote' after 75 million new people joined the ranks of the famished last year, a United Nations agency said Thursday.

ROME, Sept 17, 2008 (AFP) - Global numbers afflicted by acute hunger rose from 850 million to 925 million by the start of 2008 because of rising prices, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday.

ROME, Sept 17, 2008 (AFP) - Global numbers afflicted by acute hunger rose from 850 million to 925 million by the start of this year because of rising prices, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said Wednesday.

BRUSSELS, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - Inflation in the 15 countries sharing the euro came off record highs in August, providing a rare upbeat note as the threat of recession looms, official EU data showed on Tuesday.

BERLIN, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - German inflation eased to 3.1 percent in August from a record 3.3 percent in July and June, with food and energy prices rising not as strongly as before, the statistics office said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - US consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent in August as falling energy costs eased inflation pressures, government data showed Tuesday.

The softer inflation came as welcome news for an economy battered by a credit crunch and real estate woes, analysts said. Some said it could make it easier for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - British 12-month inflation hit a fresh 16-year high of 4.7 percent in August on the back of soaring domestic energy bills, official data showed.

Despite the rising cost of goods, the current turmoil on global financial markets could spark an interest rate cut rather than a hike, analysts said.

WASHINGTON, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - US consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent in August as falling energy costs eased inflation pressures, government data showed Tuesday.

The drop in the consumer price (CPI) index followed a sharp 0.8 percent jump in July, according to the Labor Department report.

WARSAW, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - Polish 12-month inflation was steady at 4.8 percent in August, the same as in July, after a 0.4 percent monthly price fall, Poland's GUS official statistics office announced Monday.

In 2007, annual average inflation was 2.5 percent. Finance Ministry and European Commission estimates suggest it could climb to a 4.5 percent average for 2008.

KUALA LUMPUR, September 14, 2008 (AFP) - In Muslim households across Asia, the inflation crisis is casting a shadow over the holy month of Ramadan, and making the nightly ritual of breaking the fast a more meagre affair.

HONG KONG, September 13, 2008 (AFP) - Soaring food costs have eaten into the profits of mooncake makers ahead of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, offsetting a renewed appetite for the distinctively Chinese sweetmeat.

SOFIA, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Inflation in Bulgaria eased sharply in August to 11.8 percent on a 12-month basis from 14.4 percent in July, the national statistics institute said Monday.

Compared with July, consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent, mainly due to lower transportation costs, it added.

For the eight months to August, inflation was 7.1 percent.