Gono is the head of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, ergo: Gononomics. It is beyond insane. Stupid people would never survive in such a system, but the truly clever could make themselves super-rich in no time at all.
The Day the Dollar Died
Today the new Zimbabwe currency devalued to one South African cent. Issued
just a month ago at parity with the Rand, it was a desperate move by the
regime in Harare to try and meet the demand for cash in an environment where
the local currency is halving in values every week or less.
Even though we have no less than five sets of currency in circulation – the
new notes, the bearer bonds, the agric cheques and two different sets of
coinage, there is still a huge shortage of local currency. Businesses with
cash are selling their surplus on the market at up to a 50 per cent premium.
Bankers and the Reserve Bank are also selling cash and buying foreign
exchange on the parallel market.
In fact to the uninitiated the situation here can be quite bewildering –
just take today for example. The US dollar was trading at Z$1334 per dollar
at the so-called “Old Mutual Rate”. The “RTGS” rate was about Z$850 to
1. The street rate was Z$200 to 1. The interbank rate was slightly higher and
the “official rate” was Z$0,0000003 of a local dollar to one US dollar.
Then today we tried to buy some fabric from a local firm – 100 per cent
cotton, locally manufactured and dyed – they quoted me Z$6060 per Metre or
US3,10 – at that rate the exchange rate was 1955 to one US dollar. That is
10 times the street rate.
So if I was able to get an allocation of foreign exchange from the Reserve
Bank at the “Official” rate, US$100,000 would cost me 30 Zimbabwean cents.
If I sold the US$100 000 on the local market at the RTGS rate I would earn
Z$85 million. If I then bought US dollars on the free market in Zimbabwe I
would be able to buy US$425,000. This is what we call “Gononomics”.
But if you were a worker in a clothing factory, your weekly wage would be
about Z$200 – and a 300 mls Coke would cost you Z$1 800 – you would have to
work for 9 weeks to buy a cold coke!
Last month the militias were paid Z$3 trillion – that is 30 cents in the new
currency. Worth a fortune in the hands of Grace Mugabe but not worth a dime
in the markets in which they have to live. They are going to have to print
currency and “create” currency through the Reserve Bank by simply issuing
cheques or even just a credit for an account in order to pay the army – but
the army will not be able to get hard cash and therefore cannot spend the
money they get until it is worthless.
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