Zimbabwe's inflation will rocket to 1.5 million percent before the end of the year, the US ambassador to Harare predicted on Thursday, forecasting massive disruption and instability that will drive Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from office.
In a telephone interview, Christopher Dell said prices were going up twice a day, sapping popular confidence in a government which is now "committing regime change on itself."
"I believe inflation will hit 1.5 million percent by the end of 2007, if not before," Dell said. "I know that sounds stratospheric but, looking at the way things are going, I believe it is a modest forecast."
Zimbabwe's official inflation is 4,500 percent but independent economists and retailers say it is really above 11,000 percent and picking up speed. The black market rate for the Zimbabwean dollar has slumped, from Z$160,000 to the pound last week to more than Z$400,000. It collapsed further yesterday, tumbling to more than Z$300,000 to the US dollar. The official rate is fixed at just Z$250.
Mugabe insists the Zimbabwe currency must not be devalued.
"Prices are going up twice a day, in some cases doubling several times a week," said Dell, who is approaching the end of his posting to Zimbabwe. "It destabilizes everything. People have completely lost faith in the currency and that means they have lost faith in the government that issues it."
"By carrying out disastrous economic policies, the Mugabe government is committing regime change upon itself," he said. "Things have reached a critical point. I believe the excitement will come in a matter of months, if not weeks. The Mugabe government is reaching end game, it is running out of options."
Hyperinflation is spreading poverty, as even basic goods become unaffordable. Supermarket trollies lie idle as few can afford to buy more than a handful of goods. Government regulations only permit the withdrawals from banks of Z$1.5 million a day, which is not enough to buy a week's worth of groceries.
Golfers pay for their drinks before setting off on their round, because the price will have gone up by the time they have finished the 18th hole.
One Zimbabwean was recently told by a pension company that it would no longer send him statements as his fund was worth less than a postage stamp.
Many Zimbabweans are resorting to bartering.
"I traded some soap for two buckets of maize meal. It was far much better than trying to buy it in the shops," worker Richard Mukondo said. "People in the rural areas are even worse off. You can see they are hungry and their clothes are in tatters. They trade in whatever they can produce: tomatoes, onions, chickens and eggs."
Dell, who has had a tumultuous three years as ambassador to Zimbabwe, said that Mugabe faced further trouble from his army, which used to be considered solidly loyal to the president.
Last week six men, including an army private and a retired senior officer, were charged in court with plotting against the president. He said the allegations of the coup plot show divisions within Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF.
"I don't believe it was a real coup plot. I think it shows one side of Zanu-PF plotting against the other. The bitter factional infighting is now dragging in the military. That cannot be good news for Mugabe," Dell said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS