Que le pasa a la moneda en Zimbabwe

Pues dada la intervención del peor gobierno del mundo, se ha vuelto prácticamente inservible. La inflación anualizada (como se señala más abajo) es de más de 32 millones de puntos porcentuales (es decir, algo que el año pasado costaba 1 dolar de Zimbabwe, ahora te cueste más de 32 millones).

Y eso que el gobierno, en febrero del 2007, declaró que la inflación era 'ilegal'. Aquí la nota.

La situación se ha tornado tan desesperante que la semana pasada la revista Newsweek reportó que la empresa alemana que le vende papel al gobierno de Mugabe con el cual imprime los billetes, ha suspendido los envíos. Aquí la nota.

Otros medios internacionales también han reportado el hecho (ver aquí y aquí).

Los primeros dos párrafos del artículo de Newsweek reflejan adecuadamente esta triste situación (las negritas son mías):

Harare—John Robertson, a Zimbabwean economist, went to the dentist yesterday with a painful tooth that needed urgent work, but before he could get it done, he had to arrange payment. His choices were these: Either he could pay in Zim dollars, in which case he'd need a bag of them, because the bill for his dentistry was $1.3 trillion, plus the limit for cash withdrawals from his bank account was only $25 billion daily. Or he could pay by check on his Zimbabwean bank account, in which case, since it takes a week to clear the check and the Zim dollar is plummeting in value, he'd have to write the check for double the amount, $2.6 trillion. Or he could just go out and find foreign exchange, either South African rand or U.S. dollars, about $50. "My only choice was to go out and find some foreign exchange."

"The figures for this economy are just unbelievable," says Robertson. He reckons the current inflation rate, comparing this June to last June, at somewhere between 8 million and 10 million percent. Others, such as the Financial Gazette, a Harare newspaper, have put currency inflation at 32 million percent—at the current rate of increase. Regardless, the numbers are so astronomical that it's hard to imagine just how Zimbabweans manage to cope. With commercial agriculture in collapse since the nationalization of white-owned farms, 40 percent of the economy is down the tubes. In addition, harvests this year were only 10 percent of what was expected, due to drought and lack of inputs; the Food and Agriculture Organization expects that 5 million people will need food aid by September. The mining sector is similarly troubled, particularly gold, and its biggest platinum mine—the largest in the world—has voluntarily stopped production due to the unrest surrounding the election. Shelves in the stores and markets are nearly empty, particularly of foodstuffs, but of nearly all goods. "It's very odd," says Jonathan Moyo, an independent MP and Mugabe's former information minister. "The shops are empty but fridges and pantries are not empty."