IMF Sees Zimbabwes Economic Collapse Accelerating
Zimbabwes economic collapse is likely to accelerate with inflation topping 5.000 percent by year-end as President Robert Mugabes government loses control of a crisis already rippling (sender bølger) across Africa, a senior IMF (Valutafond) official said on Sunday.
International Monetary Fund Africa Director Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane said Zimbabwes government had shown little sign of coming to grips with its mounting economic problems, promising more hardships amid sharply rising political tensions.
Bio-Tchane said Mugabe and Zimbabwe Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono appeared unable to stem the economic slide, which has turned one of Africas most promising economies into a basket case (håbløst tilfælde/fallitbo) beset (hjemsøgt) by frequent shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange.
Bio-Tchane noted, that Zimbabwes woes (trængsler) were already felt across Africa as millions of economic refugees stream out of the country, mostly to neighboring South Africa, while economic growth is hampered by the loss of regional trade and investment opportunities.
He added that it appeared some countries were helping to bankroll Mugabe through loans or other deals. The IMF and other key Western donors, including the World Bank, suspended aid to Zimbabwe more than six years ago over Mugabes economic policies that are blamed for the economic meltdown (nedsmeltning) and human right violations.
With the Southern African country teetering on the brink (på randen) of hyper-inflation and wages 15 times lower than the official poverty line, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has resorted to printing billions of Zimbabwean dollars in a failing attempt to keep the economy afloat.
Business deals can only be negotiated a few hours ahead because prices are rising so rapidly, and the collapse of the once-stable currency means an exchange rate of 22.000 Zimbabwe dollar to the British pound.
In a devastating assessment of the economic situation, Gideon Gono has admitted that the consequences of failing to tackle the situation are “too ghastly (forfærdende) to contemplate (at tænke på)”.
Gono further noted, that there is no money to keep air force planes in the air, or to put unserviceable police cars back on the road. And 300.000 people are waiting for passports because there is no paper or ink to issue them.
The poverty datum line (PDL) – the official poverty level – for a family of five is 260.000 Zim dollar a month (11 British pounds at the black market rate) – more than three times the minimum wage for a farm laborer of 82.000 Zim dollar.
There are no reliable figures for the monthly average wage but a bank economist estimates it at less than 200.000 Zim dollar – also well below the PDL. Many Zimbabweans rely on remittances (hjemsendte penge) from relatives working abroad.
Official figures put the net inflow at more than 100 million US dollar annually, but because virtually all deals are done on the black market the actual inflow is believed to be substantially higher.
Like other African states that have slumped to basket-case status, the income gap between the affluent rich and the mass of the population is widening by the month. Three-quarters of Zimbabwes population live on less than one US dollar (5,70 DKR) a day, unemployment exceeds 40 percent of the workforce and life expectancy, at 35 years, is the worlds lowest.
However, for the politically well-connected, Zimbabwe offers a lifestyle un-matched in much of Africa. They are the ones who can obtain foreign exchange at official rates to import and sell at vast profit smart Japanese vehicles in Harares burgeoning car dealerships.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
