Beer has joined the list of commodities fast running out in Zimbabwe. The high demand to hit the bottle is a sign of people attempting to drown economic hardships, one of the nation’s breweries said Friday.

“We have witnessed an unprecedented demand for our lager beer products. Average sales are rising fast and approaching 300 000 litres per day,” George Mutendadzamera, general manager-corporate affairs of the country’s biggest beverages producers, Delta Beverages, said in a statement.

Mutendadzamera reports that in July alone, the level of beer consumption in Zimbabwe–a crisis-ridden country in southern Africa–was up approximately 50 percent on the same period in 2006.

Zimbabwe is buckling under massive unemployment–estimated at 20 percent of the 12 million citizens–and economic woes (reportedly caused by sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States after Zimbabwe’s president allegedly rigged his 2002 presidential elections) amid the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 7 500 percent.

Filed under: General Beer News

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