1) Zimbabwe – Over 1 million per cent
Weary Zimbabweans are facing a new wave of price increases that will put many basic goods even further out of their reach: A loaf of bread now costs what 12 new cars did a decade ago.
According to an AP report, independent finance houses said in an assessment recently that annual inflation rose in May 2008 to 1,063,572 per cent based on prices of a basket of basic foodstuffs. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about 5 million per cent by October.
A small pack of locally-produced coffee beans now cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars.
2) Burma – 40%
Burma comes in second behind Zimbabwe with its inflation rate hovering around 40 per cent. It has been termed a ‘least developed country’ and continues to struggle as one of the poorest countries in Asia.
According to 2007 estimates, 32.7 per cent of the Burmese people live in poverty. Per capita GDP in Burma is $1,900 compared with $8,000 in neighboring Thailand, $26,400 in South Korea, and $33,800 in Japan.
3) Iran – 25.3%
Iran’s annual inflation rate rose to 25.3 per cent in May compared with the previous month, when it reached 24.2 per cent, the central bank said. The statistics highlight the economic problems facing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, under pressure from many lawmakers, media and the public over its failure to rein in the strength of inflation in the world’s fourth-largest oil producer. The central bank said that prices rose by 1.7 per cent in the Iranian month to May 20, pushing up the year-on-year rate to more than 25 per cent, according to a Reuters report.
Monthly prices increased 3.1 per cent the previous month, to April 19, when the year-on-year rate was 24.2 per cent. The year-on-year rate was 22.5 per cent in March, showing a steadily climbing trend. Iran’s inflation rate was about 12 per cent in mid-2005, when the conservative president came to power pledging to share Iran’s oil wealth more fairly.
4) Vietnam – 25.2%
Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party is facing one of its biggest challenges with yearly inflation in double-digits for seven consecutive months, hitting 25.2 per cent in May.
Despite authorities’ efforts to control inflation, including interest rate hikes, consumer prices were 4 percentage points higher than last month, according to the Government Statistics Office, news agency AP reported.
Vietnam’s inflation rate is among the highest in Asia, and higher food prices in particular are hurting the country’s poor. Soaring imports have tripled the trade deficit this year to $14.4 billion, while the Vietnamese stock market has lost 60 per cent, making it the world’s worst-performing market
5) Egypt – 21%
The Egyptian government has reported that inflation rates in the country rose to over 21 per cent in May, as a direct result of rising prices that have worsened the North African nation’s food crisis.
The official news agency, MENA, quoted an Egyptian government official as saying that inflation in rural areas had "increased even higher to 22.9 per cent" for the month, raising concerns over widespread discontent.
“The May figures are in stark contrast to the already high inflation rate reported in March of around 14 percent. This does not bode well for approximately 20 percent of the nations almost 80 million people, who live below the poverty line of US$2 per day,” the official was quoted as saying.
6) Pakistan – 19.27%
Inflation in Pakistan reached all-time high of 19.27 per cent in May, mainly because of growing prices of food items.
Analysts however predict the average inflation will be closing at 12 per cent or slightly above that in the fiscal year, which will end June 30, 2008.
Data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics showed that food inflation, measured through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), swelled to record 28.48 per cent in May, highest in over three decades.
7) Latvia – 17.9%
Latvian inflation accelerated again in May, with the annual inflation rate rising to 17.9 per cent, the highest in the 27-nation EU.
Despite the fact that activity is slowing – Latvia’s economy expanded a revised 3.3 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 8 per cent in the previous three-month period.
Food prices, the biggest item in the consumer basket, rose an annual 21.6 per cent, but other areas like education (20.5%) and hotels and catering (23.2%) are going up at a rapid clip, and there is no short term sign of all this abating.
8) Iraq – 16%
Higher food and energy costs lifted Iraq’s inflation rate to 16 per cent in April this year, still well below the rate recorded in 2007.
According to media reports, despite the record price of oil which was trading at 133 dollars a barrel recently, the oil-rich nation has not benefited from recent price rises because of corruption and security concerns.
Iraq’s Central Bank governor Sinan al-Shibibi said the bank would absorb the inflation rate by appreciating the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar and maintaining high interest rates which currently stand at 17 per cent.
The figures are still considerably lower than in 2007, when the inflation rate reached almost 32 per cent. In 2006 the rate stood at almost 70 per cent.
9) Bulgaria - 15%
The annual inflation in Bulgaria reached 15 per cent in May 2008, compared to the comparative period last vear, a reading that in the last 10 years trails only the 18.8 per cent clocked in May 1998, the National Statistical Institute reported.
The inflation for the period January-May 2008 compared to the same period in 2007 stood at 13.9 per cent. The overall increase in prices compared to April 2008 is reported to be 0.5 per cent.
10) Qatar – 14.75%
Annual inflation in Gulf oil producer Qatar rose for a third quarter running in March to a near record of 14.75 per cent, the country’s state Planning Council said on June 2, 2008, amid a surge in food and commodity prices, and rents.
The Consumer Price Index reached 166.87 points on March 31, the council said on its website, without giving year-earlier data. The index was at 145.42 points on March 31 last year, according to earlier Planning Council figures.
Inflation at the end of December was 13.74 per cent. The last time it was higher was on March 31 last year when it was 14.81 per cent.
via: E.T
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