Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/13/2006 12:58:55 AM PDT by MadIvan
ZIMBABWE'S annual inflation rate topped 1,000 per cent in April, underlining the severity of an economic crisis analysts say could trigger protests against Robert Mugabe's government.
Zimbabwe, in its eighth year of recession, has the fastest shrinking economy of a country outside a war zone, according to the World Bank, and the highest inflation rate in the world.
The official statistics agency said yesterday the annual inflation rate hit a record 1,042.9 percent in April after rising 913.6 per cent in March.
"As expected, it's more doom and gloom," said John Robertson, a private economic consultant. "How do you start to explain a situation where you wake up to a new price almost every day? Many families are barely getting by; they are in a survival mode," he said.
Analysts say the president has dented Zimbabwe's investment image with his seizure of white-owned farms for blacks, and that government plans to acquire a 51 per cent stake in all foreign-owned mines will keep external funding at bay.
That has undermined the currency, fuelling an inflationary spiral which shows no sign of abating. Economists say the inflation rate could end the year at around 1,800 per cent.
Some shops no longer put prices on commodities, saving themselves the trouble of changing them every day. With a carton of orange juice costing 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (£2.70) and a kilo of beef up to a million dollars, people carry their money in large bags even for simple shopping trips.
Analysts say most Zimbabweans are cutting down on basic necessities, with some families living on one meal a day.
"There is a lot of anger over the economic hardships, and if you combine this with the political conditions, we have an explosive social environment," said Eldred Masunungure, from the political science department at the University of Zimbabwe.
"We are right on the edge, and, politically, what is going to be interesting is how the government and the opposition are going to play the game."
The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it is organising peaceful anti-government marches to protest at Mr Mugabe's policies.
Mr Mugabe has warned MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he would be "dicing with death" if he tried to force a coup.
Mr Mugabe, 82, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has used tough security laws to curb protests and says the economy is a victim of sabotage by opponents of his seizures and land redistribution.
Critics blame the land reform programme for a 60 per cent drop in agricultural output since 2000, leading to a 35 per cent fall in gross domestic product.
In the first major violent protests over a sharp rise in college fees, police said students burned down a computer laboratory and classroom block at Bindura University in north-east Zimbabwe.
Mr Mugabe put his security services on high alert early this year over fears that bitter wage disputes, and school and consumer price rises amid the deepening economic crisis might spark demonstrations.
And in a measure clearly aimed at forestalling protests against his ruling ZANU-PF party, Mr Mugabe recently awarded civil servants, including security forces, a 300 per cent pay rise.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Really, what horrific new development can legitimately be called "a surprise" when it comes to this hellhole of hellholes. I can't help but feel sorry for the ordinary people there (when I think about them, which isn't that often) and I know folks here will say "toss the b**stard out" but it ain't that easy when the so-called gov't there has all the guns and power (yet another lesson)
Didn't "Land Reform" consist of driving white farmers off of their (productive) farms?
That info dropped off the screen very quickly. Rack up yet another sit on your hands United Nations solution.
"I know folks here will say "toss the b**stard out" but it ain't that easy when the so-called gov't there has all the guns and power (yet another lesson)"
Exhibit A for the paper - "Why citizens should be allowed to own guns"
Exhibit B for the paper - "Socialism destroys economies and does so very consistently"
The poor bastards should have revolted years ago -- even if they had nothing but sticks, rocks and matches as weapons to start with...
Semper Fi
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confiscated farms from white owners.
now this.
not a cent in aid!
IBBF!
(in before Bush's fault!)
Welcome to Mugabe's paradise. Surely the UN has some kind of "leader of the year" or "most valuable leader" award they can bestow on the guy.
BTW--Didn't Carter certify all this. Any responsible reporters would be insisting that wherever Jimmah shows his face to make liberal looney condemnations of Bush and America, that he be made to comment on the carnage left behind after his little stamps of electoral approval. He love to give his good housekeeping stamp of despotic approval worldwide.
Dented? What a 'sensitive' reporter we have here! Mustn't be too harsh when writing about a Marxist 'miracle' economy. Give it another year; the same writer will be commenting on how there is no obesity problem in Zimbabwe.
Leftys must be torn over this one. Since it would benefit our interests in no way it would be ok to send in troops. But don't we have to support a government that threw off the yoke of western imperialism?
Yet more empirical evidence for the thesis that the very point of socialism is the annihilation of human life.
Yes, but this is more about excessive govt. than race (although there is a anti white racial aspect too). China with its "great leap forward" (ended up starving millions of chinese) was the govt. seizure of chinese farmers land and collectivizing it. The same thing happened in Russia with similar results.
Hillary of "we will take your stuff for the common good" fame, plans the same thing for the US as did John Kerry with his "we will raise taxes only on the top 2 percent" plan.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1625780/posts
Mugabe buys ten figher airplanes from Russia.
Here is the link if you can believe that.
I know the people of this sad country are undergoing a great deal of pain, but I cannot shake the thought that they wanted this. They wanted majority rule, and they have to live with the consequences.
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