Inflation reaches record high

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate rose from 55.2 percent in June to a record high of 63.5 percent last month exceeding private sector forecasts of around 58 percent, according to official figures carried in media reports on Thursday. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expecting Zimbabwe to meet an inflation target of 29.8 percent by December. The reports quoted economists as saying prices would have to fall by over 4 percent to meet that target. Mugabe asks liberation war veterans to curb demands Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has asked the country's liberation war veterans to curb their demands for compensation and pension packages, news reports said on Thursday. Speaking in a ceremony at the Heroes Acre cemetery of 42 leading African nationalists, Mugabe who declined talks with representatives of the veterans, said: "It should be realised that we have a population of 12.5 million whose interests are equally important and should therefore receive the attention of our government." Police with riot shields and batons keep a close watch on the crowd of an estimated 1,000 people to prevent a repeat of rioting that forced him to cut short the ceremony two years ago after the disclosure of a financial scandal over war disability fund payments.