On the front page of the NY Times’ website tonight, an article about life these days in Zimbabwe. Inflation is over 40 million percent, people are dying from starvation and disease, and public services — including electricity supply, garbage collection and hospitals — have just stopped operation.
Making matters worse, cash itself has become scarce. Business executives and diplomats say Zimbabwe’s central bank governor, Gideon Gono, desperate for foreign currency to stoke the governing party’s patronage machine, sends runners into the streets with suitcases of the nation’s currency to buy up American dollars and South African rand on the black market — drying up Zimbabwean dollars that would otherwise go to the banks.
Because of the cash shortage, the government strictly limits the amount people can withdraw. Even so, Zimbabweans say they often wait in vain for hours at banks that send their customers away empty-handed.
Mr. Gono, who blames Western sanctions for the nation’s troubles, did not respond to requests for an interview, but he has shown few signs of doing anything differently.
“I am going to print and print and sign the money until sanctions are removed,” he told state media this week.
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