Can a fiscal policy possibly curb the inflation in our heads?
The better part of last year saw me living in a secluded place where life is still relatively easy but not necessarily unharmed by the current economic melt down. Yes this is Zimbabwe! The one reason for this is that we are very close to the Botswana border where we get our groceries cheap using our parents’ hard earned forex they send monthly to support their kids in college. Although life is okay, the area is so secluded and the only news about the outside world is through over exaggerated satellite and internet news coupled with the toned down stuff our parents told us via email or telephone. Frankly, none of this prepared me enough for the shock of a life time when I set foot in Harare.
When Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono introduced the forex shops we were all relieved at least inflation was going to be past, our prices would be realistic and a lot of goods were going to be readily available on the shelves a slight return to the pre-land redistribution era. Every Zimbabwean was ready to sacrifice the little forex their Diaspora relatives had sent them. But alas, this was just another distant Zimbabwean dream. Read more
