Zimbabwe’s Millionaires Worth Only $1

October 20th, 2007

Via: Times Online:

Zimbabwe’s currency has fallen to record levels, with one million Zimbabwean dollars buying a single US dollar (48p) and inflation reaching 8,000 per cent.

The bleak data was announced as people in the capital Harare struggled to cope without electricity for the third day. “We closed our business today,” said a woman who helps to run a major petrol supplier. “We just can’t operate like this.”

The National Blood Transfusion Services said that it had been unable to test blood since Tuesday. “We are in serious trouble,” said a doctor.

At independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar held parity with the US dollar but the currency has suffered from the recent economic policies of President Mugabe; at the beginning of this year it was $Z2,800 to one US dollar and ten days ago $Z500,000.

President Mugabe has struggled to keep inflation under control and in July ordered businesses to halve their prices to alleviate the country’s woes. The order resulted in the arrest of about 10,000 business people as thousands of police officers raided companies, shopping malls and markets to take goods marked above price control levels. Now the supermarkets are bare and it is almost impossible to buy food.

Related: The Failed State and You

Posted in Collapse, Economy | Top Of Page

One Response to “Zimbabwe’s Millionaires Worth Only $1”

  1. Obscurant says:
    October 21, 2007 at 8:59 am

    My initial thoughts are as such: balloon pants are all the rage, Ian Smith is missed horribly, and paper currency could be a distant memory. Good luck there. Reciprocate the regards when our collapse comes stateside.

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