Many shops have had empty shelves for months

"It is now clear that Zimbabwe's crisis has reached the tipping point," the MDC's spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, told the South African Press Association.

But Central Bank governor Gideon Gono has promised to end what he called the "anarchy" resulting from instructions to firms to halve their prices.

There have been acute food shortages since the policy was imposed in June.

Businesses were ordered to slash some products by at least 50% or freeze prices for items such as bread and milk.

Maize rise

"Of what use are cheap goods when they are not available?" AFP news agency quotes Mr Gono as telling a press conference in the capital, Harare.

Mr Gono said he was working with manufacturers to refill the empty shelves in shops.

"There is going to be return to normalcy, but in an environment that respects the viability of producers of goods and services and we must not be tempted to go back to the anarchy of the last three months," he said.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe has said has been a 30% rise in the cost of living for a family of six in the last month.

The latest CCZ inflation figures, published in Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper, also show a 222% rise in the cost of the staple maize meal.

Zimbabwe's annual inflation is nearly 8,000% - the highest in the world.

Meanwhile, news reports on the ZimOnline website say the call by Mr Gono to stop farm invasions, blamed for Zimbabwe's economic downturn, continues to be ignored.

Much of Zimbabwe relies on food imports and handouts from international humanitarian groups because of the failure to maintain production on farms.