HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP):

Zimbabwe's government granted magistrates and state prosecutors, whose strike since October has crippled the court system, pay increases of up to 600 per cent, the official media reported yesterday.

The award came days after the state Prices Commission said it would allow private schools to raise their fees by 600 per cent at the beginning of the new school term amid soaring prices of utilities, local taxes and all general goods.

Neither increase, however, would go anywhere near matching inflation, which is officially 8,000 per cent.

No official figures

No official figures have been released since September, with the state statistical office saying there were not enough goods in shortages-stricken stores to update inflation calculations on the standard basket of essentials.

But central bank officials acknowledged their own informal estimates put inflation in December at around 24,000 per cent, up from 8,000 per cent in September.

Independent evaluations by banks and financial institutions have listed real inflation on foodstuffs alone closer to 150,000 per cent. The International Monetary Fund had forecast overall inflation reaching 100,000 per cent by the end of 2007.

From immediate effect, junior magistrates' and prosecutors' monthly earnings were raised from about 20 million Zimbabwe dollars to about 316 million Zimbabwe dollars, the state Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

It said the raises were included in package salary reviews for government employees approved by the Public Service Commission, the government's employment body. Accompanying hikes in general allowances brought the increases to around the 600 per cent mark for both junior and senior judicial officials.