By Nelson Banya
HARARE, May 17 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's inflation, which reached a new record high in April, has been stoked by chronic food shortages caused by the country's controversial land reforms, the head of the central bank said on Thursday.
Official figures released on Thursday showed prices in the southern African country jumped annually to a record 3,700 percent in a stark sign of the economic turmoil blamed on government policies.
The cost of living doubled in April -- touching a record 100.7 percent month-on-month from 50.5 percent in March -- while the annualised figure climbed from 2,200 percent previously.
The Central Statistical Office said prices of food -- which makes up a third of the consumer basket used to calculate inflation -- domestic power, fuel and public transport fares had contributed to the significant rise in price levels in April.
The inflation spiral is the clearest sign of a deep economic crisis, blamed on President Robert Mugabe's policies such as the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.
Addressing parliamentarians in Harare on Thursday, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said disruptions of commercial farming, shortages of key inputs and poor planning meant Zimbabwe -- formerly a regional bread basket -- would continue to struggle to feed itself.
Mugabe's government, which blames declining agricultural productivity on poor rains, has declared 2007 a drought year.
"When the governor urges a stop to the disruption of farming activity, he is told to stop delving into areas that do not concern him, but I do not need to lose sleep thinking about sourcing foreign currency to import food," Gono said.
"I hardly have a good night's sleep, yet we've got the land."
Zimbabwe's government has lined up more staple grain imports following another poor farming season, and Gono said the food deficits would continue to stoke inflation.
Apart from maize, Zimbabwe faces a huge wheat deficit amid revelations this week by the agriculture ministry that only a tenth of the targeted 76,000 hectares of land had been put under the winter wheat crop.
"Inflationary pressures emanating from the food sub-category reflect food insufficiency and related supply bottle-necks," said Gono.
The U.N World Food Programme had earlier stated that at least 1.4 million Zimbabweans would require food aid until this month, but agencies expect the number to grow after a failed summer crop in the 2006/7 season.
Mugabe denies his land reforms have created an unprecedented economic crisis and instead blames Western sanctions.
"Even with the drought, why should we be importing food today when we've got the land and have put in place drought mitigation measures?", asked Gono.
((Editing by David Christian-Edwards; Harare newsroom +263 4 799112))
