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9M% Inflation Crushes Zimbabwe

As cash becomes worthless, citizens face starvation

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 18, 2008 9:56 AM CDT
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(Newser) – The political violence that ravaged Zimbabwe has subsided since Robert Mugabe's sham reelection, but another devastation continues unabated: economic meltdown. Zimbabwe's inflation rate has now hit 9 million percent, and a $50-billion Zimbabwean note is worth just 34 cents and falling in American currency. The Guardian investigates the surreal economic landscape of what was once one of Africa's most prosperous nations.

Bread is an impossible luxury and supermarket shelves are bare; some shop across the border in Mozambique, while others procure food from underground warehouses. Prices rise by the hour and checks lose half their value as they clear. Even professionals can barely afford one meal a day, and for the first time starvation is taking hold. "We've been relying on beer for stress management," jokes one man—but while that cost $10 billion last week, now it's $150 billion.

An unidentified man carries some cash for groceries in Harare, Zimbabwe Wednesday, March, 5, 2008.
An unidentified man carries some cash for groceries in Harare, Zimbabwe Wednesday, March, 5, 2008.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader in Zimbabwe tours empty refrigerators at a supermarket in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader in Zimbabwe tours empty refrigerators at a supermarket in Harare, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007.   (AP Photo)
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe leaves the eleventh ordinary session of the assembly of the African Union heads of State and government in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe leaves the eleventh ordinary session of the assembly of the African Union heads of State and government in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.   (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File )
An unidentified man buys cooking oil on the streets of Highfileds in Harare, Zimbabwe Tuesday, May, 20, 2008. The cooking oil is made affordable by repackaging into smaller bottles and containers. A third of the population has fled Zimbabwe in recent years as the country confronts chronic shortages.
An unidentified man buys cooking oil on the streets of Highfileds in Harare, Zimbabwe Tuesday, May, 20, 2008. The cooking oil is made affordable by repackaging into smaller bottles and containers. A third...   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
A child poses with wads of Zimbabwean dollar notes begged on the streets of Harare Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008.
A child poses with wads of Zimbabwean dollar notes begged on the streets of Harare Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008.   (AP Photo)
These $500,000 notes, issued last December in Zimbabwe, are virtually worthless now.
These $500,000 notes, issued last December in Zimbabwe, are virtually worthless now.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
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The precipitous collapse of Zimbabwe's economy
Reuters

The mess of Mugabe
New Republic

 
Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • black market • starvation • economy • hyper-inflation

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