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  • Zimbabwe out of money to print money...

    From the ridiculous to the sublime. Heaven save those poor souls from their government.

    NewZimbabwe.com – The Zimbabwe News You Trust is Zimbabwe’s leading online newspaper and published by New Zimbabwe Media Ltd. The platform brings you the latest breaking News, Business, Showbiz, Sports, Diaspora and gives you everything you’ve come to expect and love.


    Zimbabwe has no money to print currency
    By Staff Reporter
    Last updated: 05/30/2006 02:35:22
    CASH shortages have returned to haunt Zimbabweans.

    Banks started rationing money on Friday, allowing clients to withdraw only Zim$5 million (about US$49) to avert crowd trouble, but most ran out of mint-print, prompting desperate clients to form overnight queues outside.

    Official sources said the recent 150 percent pay rise for soldiers, teachers, policemen and nurses had put a strain on money supply.

    Reserve Bank officials told IRIN that plans to print about Zim$60 trillion (about US$592.9 million) were briefly delayed after the government failed to secure foreign currency to buy ink and special paper for printing money.

    Inflation has shot to 1,042 percent and is still climbing as the economic meltdown continues, putting Zimbabwe's rapidly dwindling working class in an ever more precarious position. Cash shortages were last experienced in 2003 and only ended after the introduction of high- denomination bearer cheques.

    One bank manager told IRIN: "We don't have enough money. The best we can do is to share the little money that is there among our clients," but added quietly, "As the manager I can use my discretion and assist genuinely desperate cases."

    However, his voice was not low enough and he was immediately surrounded by more than 20 people. "I need to pay $40 million [US$395] at the hospital, $5 million [US$49] is of no use to me," pleaded one man.

    Another in his late 20s was equally desperate. "I need to withdraw $200 million [about US$1,976] by Saturday to pay the bridal price for my girlfriend, but at $5 million [US$49] a day I will not have enough money on the day," he lamented.

    The manager, sweating profusely, escaped to the safety of another office.

    Margaret Phiri, 36, who teaches at a school 70km east of the capital, was equally devastated.

    "I had borrowed a total of $6 million [US$59] from friends and I was supposed to pay them back this week after getting my salary from the bank, but as things stand now I am in trouble because those people expect me to bring them their money, while I also need to get money to sustain myself," she said.

    A soldier who refused to identify himself could not hide his frustration. "What do you think I will do with this $5 million[US$49]? It cannot buy much. I usually withdraw all my salary at once, but now I am being given the burden of coming to the bank again for more withdrawals," he complained.

    The soldier was followed by murmurs of: "The government has failed," and "This is a sign of poor economic management."

    It took a long wait on the sidewalk in a temperature of 25 degrees centigrade before Given Maramba, a Harare resident, reached the bank teller. "You really need nerves of steel to endure the torture of those queues - I queued for a solid three hours before I was finally served," he said, brandishing a wad of notes - IRIN
    JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
    newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com
    I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

  • #2
    Well done, Mugabe. Way to totally run your country into the ground. Ugh.

    -Arrian
    grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

    The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

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    • #3
      Sounds like a return to the barter system is upcoming.
      Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
      "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
      He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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      • #4
        Something tells me he's proud of boasting how many millionaires there are in the country.
        "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
        "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
        "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

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        • #5
          “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
          - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

          Comment


          • #6
            This is further proof of the old saying, It takes money to make money.
            Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
            "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
            He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

            Comment


            • #7
              Mugabe.
              "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master" - Commissioner Pravin Lal.

              Comment


              • #8
                lol zimbabwe

                Comment


                • #9
                  Mugabe is such a Dr. Evil wannabe.

                  Dr. Evil: "Here's the plan. We get the warhead, and we hold the world ransomed for.....One MILLION DOLLARS!!"
                  No.2: "Ahem...Well, don't you think we should maybe ask for *more* than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't exactly a lot of money these days. Virtucon alone makes over nine billion dollars a year!"
                  Dr. Evil: "Really?"
                  No.2: "Mm-hmm."
                  Dr. Evil: "That's a number. Okay then. We hold the world ransom for.....One hundred..BILLION DOLLARS!!"
                  "Just puttin on the foil" - Jeff Hanson

                  “In a democracy, I realize you don’t need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels. When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that’s the dictator, because he speaks for all the people.” - Jimmy Carter

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                  • #10
                    Am I the only one who sees the sums they are withdrawing quite respectable when denominated in US $?

                    I mean hospital bills at ~$300 (US) and salaries at ~$100 or more (US) may not mean much to you but there are European countries who are not much richer.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      That's because wages are "sticky" they adjust much more slowly to what changes in the actual situation would warrant. Besides, a $100 wage that's not actually going to be paid out in full doesn't mean a lot.
                      DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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                      • #12
                        Perhaps the journalist is quoting the nominal exchange rate which has little relation to the actual street rate.

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                        • #13
                          Uh...with high inflation, real wages are depressed if the nominal wage is "sticky"
                          12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                          Stadtluft Macht Frei
                          Killing it is the new killing it
                          Ultima Ratio Regum

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                          • #14
                            Oh, and a 2 week or month wage of 100$US is pretty low, dude.

                            A couple of thousand $US per annum isn't very high...
                            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                            Stadtluft Macht Frei
                            Killing it is the new killing it
                            Ultima Ratio Regum

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              The inflation is in Zimbabwean dollars, not US ones.

                              Originally posted by VetLegion
                              Perhaps the journalist is quoting the nominal exchange rate which has little relation to the actual street rate.
                              You're right: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=USDZWD=X
                              DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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