Zimbabwe arrests 7,500 for allegedly violating price cuts

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Nearly 7,500 business leaders and traders have been arrested for violating sweeping price controls since they were imposed six weeks ago, the government said Monday. President Robert Mugabe vowed not to back down from the clampdown.

The June 26 government order to slash prices by about 50 percent was meant to curb Zimbabwe's runaway inflation, but the measure has caused acute shortages of basic goods. Businesses say they are being forced to sell their products at a loss, and opposition politicians have called the price cuts a ploy to shore up ruling party support.

Zimbabwe is embroiled in its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, blamed largely on the seizures of thousands of white-owned farms began in 2000. Unemployment is around 80 percent, and political unrest is high. Foreign investment, loans and development aid have dried up.

Official inflation is 4,500 percent -- the highest in the world -- although independent estimates put it closer to 9,000 percent. The International Monetary Fund has forecast inflation could rise to 100,000 percent by the end of the year

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, blames the crisis on Western sanctions and rejects criticism that mismanagement caused the meltdown.