June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's dollar plummeted 67 percent on the black market this week, forcing some retailers and gasoline stations in the capital, Harare, to stop trading. The currency, officially pegged at 250 against the U.S. dollar, sold for as much as 300,000 a dollar on the streets, where most Zimbabweans exchange their foreign currency, money traders said. It has depreciated from 100,000 earlier this week and from 3,000 to the dollar on Jan. 20.``Inflation and the exchange rate are running away and out of control,'' John Robertson, an independent economist, said in an interview today from Harare. ``We're on a slippery slope that must be coming to an end now.''
| Inflation in Zimbabwe, the world's fastest-shrinking economy, accelerated to 4,530 percent in May... |
Fuel retailers in Harare have started refusing to accept local currency because they are unable to keep pace with its depreciation. ``The black market rate has plummeted in the last 10 days,'' said Stephen Forsythe, who owns the Emerald Hill fuel outlet in Harare's northern suburbs. ``At this rate, I can only afford enough foreign currency to buy half as much fuel every three days. You can't run a business like that, so unless I charge in foreign currency, I have to stay closed.''
Retail stores in the capital also began closing their doors yesterday. ``There are thousands of items on our shelves and the law says they all have to display a price,'' Josiah Membgwe, a manager at the Helensvale Supermarket in Harare, said in an interview. ``We spent the whole afternoon and most of the night re-pricing everything. If this carries on we'll spend more time pricing goods than we do selling them.''