Zimbabwe is – once again – facing a severe economic crisis.
Inflation has now reached nearly 800% and the country’s currency is trading at nearly 100 to a US dollar on the black market, although the official rate is 25.
A report by the Zimbabwe Independent said that the politburo of the governing ZANU-PF had summoned the minister of finance, Mthuli Ncube, and the governor of the country’s reserve bank, John Mangudya, to explain the crisis.
Both officials reportedly told the politburo that there was little that they could do unless the country implemented an economic rescue package.
Members of the politburo reportedly also expressed their concern that the country’s economic woes could damage ZANU-PF’s showing at the next general election, due in 2023.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa also reportedly blamed the country’s private sector for its economic woes.
Zimbabwe has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past 20 years, the catalyst of which was the seizure of white-owned farms at the beginning of the century.