Millions of Zimbabweans are threatened with starvation after the widespread failure of the latest harvest brought on by the Mugabe-governments disastrous mishandling of land redistribution, and food shortages in the shops caused by hyperinflation.
The UN says hundreds of thousands of people require food aid immediately because they have harvested little or nothing in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is to introduce a bank-note worth 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar in response to the rampant inflation – but the note will barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread.
Some Zimbabweans are already calling for higher denominations in a country where the official annual inflation rate has exceeded 2,200,000 per cent. Independent economists believe the real rate is many times higher.
Zimbabwes meltdown has left at least 80 per cent of the population in poverty, facing mass shortages of basic goods.
The Southern African countrys central bank has introduced several new notes already this year in response to the hyperinflation. In January, a 10 million Zim-dollar note was issued, followed by a 50 million. By June the denominations had reached tens of billions.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
