Zim quadruples electricity prices, pummelling improverished consumers

Zimbabwe hiked its average electricity tariff by 320% on Wednesday to ramp up power supplies at a time of daily blackouts, but the move will anger consumers already grappling with soaring inflation that is eroding their earnings.

The southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade, seen in triple-digit inflation, 18-hour power cuts and shortages of United States dollars, medicines and fuel that have evoked the 2008 dark days of hyperinflation under late former President Robert Mugabe.

The second increase in the price of electricity inside three months follows sharp rises in fuel and basic goods prices in the last week.

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