Posted on 09/26/2007 7:03:27 PM PDT by vikingd00d
LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's attempts to control prices amid Zimbabwe's worsening economic crisis have backfired and now even the black market faces shortages, a senior British diplomatic source said on Wednesday.
"Mugabe's efforts at price control have not only backfired but they've exacerbated what is a fairly catastrophic situation anyway," said the source, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
"It displaced retail activity into the black market, where there is no control, so inflation ... is probably anywhere between 13,000 and 20,000 percent," the source said.
The Zimbabwean government said in its latest report that inflation was about 6,600 percent. That is down from previous monthly estimates but still the highest in the world.
Under Mugabe's 27-year rule Zimbabwe has plunged from prosperity to penury. The country once called the "bread basket" of southern Africa is now suffering from persistent shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food.
Zimbabwe credits a government-imposed price freeze in June for helping to control inflation.
But the British diplomatic source said Mugabe's price-cutting attack "completely fractured the supply and production chains behind the retail sector, which were pretty fragile in any case. Companies have lost billions of Zimbabwean dollars and ... even the black market is beginning to dry up.
"We know we'll be feeding 4 million people by January or February, possibly more," he said, warning Zimbabwe was on the verge of "a really very serious food and every other kind of shortage".
Mugabe has said he will attend an EU-Africa summit in Portugal in December and the British official said that meant Prime Minister Gordon Brown would skip the event.
"If Mugabe's there then the prime minister is not," the source said. "Whatever's useful on the agenda could well be overshadowed by (Mugabe's) presence."
He stressed that Brown's stance was not an effort to derail the conference, the first EU-Africa summit in seven years, and officials hoped a solution to the dispute over Zimbabwe's representation at the summit could be found.
"We're not saying Zimbabwe shouldn't be there -- the very opposite. ... The solution, the compromise -- if compromise there is -- will not come from President Mugabe. It will have to come from the African Union and/or SADC," the source said referring to the Southern African Development Community, which supports Mugabe attending the meeting.
Price controls didn’t work?? Made things worse?? Holy Crap! Send this info to every RAT in the world!!
-
How in the HELL can a man get to the level of President of a country and not have the common sense to see that price controls never work.
I thought economic stupidity was a mostly American trait but I suppose I was wrong.
I like it. I really like it.
“Amazingly, Mugabe does not give a rat’s *ss about any of this. He controls the platinum industry and pockets vast millions each year.”
Maybe he’s the one sending me all those e-mails about needing a “partner” to get millions out of Africa.
By the way, how is old Rhodesia doing? As I recall, it was a pretty prosperous and stable country.
It's a perfect kleptocracy, it really is. The looters hold the children with swollen bellies hostage and gleefully suck up the profit, with the UN as a knowing, cynical, and willing accomplice. This is the face of world government.
It was Nixon. But who's counting?
And the fact that nobody reports about it, except the BBC and the Economist, just shows how out of whack the priorities of the traditional media are.
Zimbabwe is far less exotic than Burma.
Zimbabwe is far less exotic than Burma.
Zimbabwe is far less exotic than Burma.
Oh, and Mugabe only hates white people.
As an extra, I received an sms today stating..."In support of our incredibly brave friends in Burma:May all people around the world wear a red shirt tomorrow."
But, no shirts for the people of Zimbabwe.
Because let's face it, as with the case of the Jena 6, Africans can do no wrong.
That is what ‘price controls’ do. Its what they always do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.