HARARE - Authorities in Zimbabwe hiked the price of a loaf of bread more than three times in a bid to ease chronic shortages, state media said Sunday.
A loaf of bread will now sell for 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars (officially worth 3.33 US), up from 30,000, the official Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
The National Incomes and Pricing Commission has allowed the bakers’ association to sell bread at the new approved prices, a letter to the National Bakers Association said.
But bakers say they need subsidized fuel and more flour for bread to become available. Bread is so scarce that in a few shops a small bun already sells for 150,000 Zimbabwe dollars.
A loaf of bread was this week selling for as much as 400,000 dollars on the black market, said the Sunday Mail.
Zimbabwe’s wheat harvest is due in at the end of the month, but it is only forecast to meet around a third of the countrys needs.
‘Only a few bakers have flour stocks, but the rest are likely to remain closed,’ said Vincent Mangoma, the chairman of the bakers’ association.
‘The sooner we have more wheat in the country, the better,’ he told the Sunday Mail.
Zimbabwe requires more than 400,000 tonnes of wheat a year, but is only expected to harvest 145,000 tonnes due to erratic power supplies that disrupted irrigation and lowered yields.
This week the government announced that it was importing 30,000 tonnes of wheat from its neighbours in the southern African region to ease shortages.
‘The government is trying its level best to bring in more wheat into the country and make sure that bakeries are supplied with enough flour very soon,’ Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said.
Food shortages are beginning to bite following controversial state-ordered price slashes that have emptied shops of all but costly imports. Many families in Harare now survive on only one meal a day, independent reports say.