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
Gideon Gono steps down. Really?
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/gono-steps-down/
By Gerald Harper
Reserve governor Gideon Gono will step down on Thursday this week two months before his second term at the helm of the Central bank expires,sources revealed to Metro.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti who is highly tipped to take over as Minister of Finance in the new all inclusive government early this year blamed Gono for Zimbabwe’s economic woes.
“Gono is the number one enemy of this country, not inflation,” Biti, MDC-Harare East said. “He has been stoking the fires of inflation through quasi-fiscal activities. Read more
Hi BACOSSI, meet Commander FOLIWAR
ACRONYMious? Gideon Gono does it again.
It seems that Mr Gono is in love with acronyms. The last few he has dished out: BACOSSI (Basic Commodity Supply Side Intervention), NEDPP (National Economic Develeopment Priority Programme), ASPEF (Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility) and others have not really helped us.
But now he has come up with a whole new army of them and it is his hope that where BACOSSI and company lost some historic battles, these new battalions will win the war for us, as they are US dollar backed. It is my hope that at the end of all this the people and their Governor will not part acrimoniously or even ACRONYMiously.
Well, here they are: Read more
Yay! The US Dollar is here!
One US dollar. Welcome to Zimbabwe! Oficially, that is.
Just saw on NewZimbabwe.com that Governor Gono has licensed one thousand two hundred shops in Zim to sell stuff in foreign currency. Yay! Finally, an acknowledgement that the Zim dollar is not viable right now.
Here’s the story:
ZIMBABWE said on Wednesday it will license shops to sell goods in foreign currency to help ease shortages, the clearest sign authorities are losing the battle against a thriving black market. Read more
