As Zimbabweans continue to wait for a political solution to the country, the economy continues to sink deeper into the ground. On many occassions, people have said that the Zimbabwe economy has hit rock bottom but it seems like there is a level lower than ‘rock bottom’ and the Zimbabwe economy continues to sink to that level. How the Zimbabwe economy has managed to survive this long remains a mystery to many. On Wednesday (10 September), the Reserve Bank in Zimbabwe started to allow shops to sell goods in foreign currency to help ease shortages, the clearest sign authorities are losing the battle against a thriving black market. Central bank Governor Gideon Gono said 1 000 retailers and 200 wholesalers will be allowed to sell in foreign money, while motorists could also buy fuel in foreign currency.

It was about time that the Zimbabwe economy became ‘dollarised’ as the value of the Zimbabwe dollar was becoming meaningless. Just yesterday we received an SMS from Zimbabwe which said: “We’re battling to stay afloat here. Where in the world have you seen the USD depreciate almost on a weekly basis? Which country have you ever seen a litre of bottled mineral water cost USD6? Commodity prices in stores pegged in three different prices; a price for cash buyers, another for plastic buyers which is thrice the cash amount and finally four times more for cheque buyers, thats if you can find any basics. Not forgetting a maximum cash withdrawal of Zw500 a day, yet a combi trip one way is Zw200 from Avondale to town and Zw500 from Borrowdale to town. (A combi trip is the equivalent of a public taxi trip in South Africa). A pizza is worth Zw48000. The exchange rate for the USD is now, cash Zw250 for one USD and Zw10000 at transfer rate. An average worker is getting paid Zw5000 a month.”

It is rather difficult to digest all that was contained in that SMS and it just gets you to wonder how people are surviving under such conditions. It looks like even after the Reserve Bank slashed all those zero’s from the currency they continue to come back. With inflation of over 10 million percent, what does one expect? Something has to give and dollarising the economy maybe a sign that the current government in Zimbabwe is starting to admit they have failed. Will ‘dollarising’ the economy help? Only time will tell.

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