Mugabe ready to party in impoverished Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- As many as 10,000 people were converging on a town in southern Zimbabwe for President Robert Mugabe's 84th birthday celebrations, state radio reported Friday.

Many were traveling free on commandeered buses and trains, it said.

Organizers of Saturday's ceremonies said they raised about 3 trillion Zimbabwe dollars (or the equivalent of about $250,000 at the dominant black market exchange rate) for the bash amid chronic shortages of hard currency, gasoline, food and most basic goods.

On Thursday, Zimbabwe's central statistical office said the official rate of annual inflation in the country has rocketed past the 100,000 percent barrier, by far the highest in the world.

In a brief statement, the statistics office said inflation rose to 100,580 percent in January, up from 66,212 percent in December. A further breakdown of its calculations would be released later, officials said.

They estimate the real inflation is closer to 150,000 percent, citing supermarket receipts showing the price of chicken rose more than 236,000 percent to 15 million Zimbabwe dollars, or about $2.15, per kilogram (2.2 pounds) between January 2007 and January 2008. Slower increases in prices of sugar, tea and other basics brought down the overall average inflation.

In Africa's fastest shrinking economy, per capita gross domestic product in Zimbabwe fell from about $200 in 1996 to about $9 a head last year.

Mugabe, meanwhile, in a television broadcast marking his birthday on Thursday, described former ruling party loyalist Simba Makoni, 57, as a prostitute whose bid to challenge him in presidential elections March 29 was "absolutely disgraceful." E-mail to a friend

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