Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Inflation in Zimbabwe

I visited Zimbabwe (twice) in the late 1980's. At the time, it was a safe and peaceful country, and at the time was being held up as a model for the rest of Africa (particularly its large southern neighbour) for making a successful transition from minority to majority rule.

How things change. As The Daily Telegraph notes, inflation in Zimbabwe reached 1,394% on the 12th February 2007. Some shop keepers in Harare are predicting dynamic pricing (prices changing by the hour) in 3 months time!

So much for the model country!