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.