Economics
Zimbabwe Plans Triple-Digit Interest Rate Hike to Tame Inflation
- MPC member says central bank’s inflation outlook is now 160%
- Zimbabwe lending rates are already the highest in the world
A makeshift market in Mbare, Zimbabwe.
Photographer: Tafara Mugwara/Xinhua/Getty Images
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Zimbabwe’s central bank plans to more than double the benchmark interest rate -- already the highest in the world -- to 190%, a member of its monetary policymaking committee said, as it seeks to put a brake on soaring inflation.
Persistence Gwanyanya, from the bank’s MPC, said the intention was to achieve a positive real interest rate to discourage speculative borrowing that undermines the local currency. He spoke in a phone interview after official figures Saturday showed that annual inflation rose to 191.6% in June.