FACTBOX: Zimbabwe's economy in freefall

(Reuters) - Inflation in Zimbabwe, already the world's highest, soared to 164,900 percent year-on-year in February, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Wednesday.

Here are some details on Zimbabwe's inflation milestones and government efforts to control it.

INFLATION'S RISE

-- Zimbabwe's annual inflation rose above 1,000 percent in April 2006. Official statistics showed the annual inflation rate at a record 1,042.9 percent after rising 913.6 percent in March.

-- Annualized inflation stood at 3,713.9 percent in April 2007, a monthly rate of increase of 100.7 percent, according to official government data.

-- Inflation slowed in August to 6,592.8 percent from 7,634.8 in July after a price freeze was instituted, but leapt to a record 7,982.1 percent in September.

-- The December 2007 figure had risen to 66,212.3 percent, and by January 2008 it hit 100,586 percent but economic experts said the actual figure was higher.

-- April 2008, the Central Statistics Office reported that for the month of February 2008, the figure stood at 164,900.3 percent.

REACTION

-- When inflation hit 1,000 in 2006, Zimbabwe was in its eighth year of recession and had the fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone, according to the World Bank. It also had the highest inflation rate in the world.

-- Some shops began leaving prices off commodities, saving themselves the trouble of changing them every day. With a carton of orange juice then costing 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (US $5) and 1 kg of beef up to Z$1 million, people carried money in large bags even for simple shopping trips.

-- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) ordered redenominated notes in July 2006 to combat black marketeering and hyperinflation, lopping three zeros off the local dollar.

-- The government instituted a price freeze in June 2007, followed two months later by wage freeze to try to tame inflation.

-- Zimbabwe's central bank introduced new higher value banknotes earlier in 2008 which, however, failed to ease a cash shortage that has kept commercial banks busy with long queues of desperate residents wanting to withdraw money.

HOW BAD CAN IT GET?

-- Drought in several Zimbabwean provinces is likely to damage the main 2008 maize harvest and could worsen an already tight food situation, the United Nations' food agency said.

-- The agency said on top of floods and drought, farmers have suffered from shortages of key inputs, including fertilizer, seed, fuel and tillage power this season.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Mary Gabriel)