From the News: cash dealers

From IRIN (UN), 23 November: Of cash and dealers

Harare - Just when life could not become any harder for Zimbabweans, who are already having to cope with food and fuel shortages and rocketing prices, local banks have run out of notes. Long queues of people waiting to draw cash have been a common sight outside banks for the past two weeks.(...) The crisis has inevitably bred a new kind of dealer, providing cash for a commission. They include bank tellers who moonlight as currency sellers after work, illegal foreign currency dealers, shop managers and even sports administrators, who receive cash after matches. "Sometimes these people ... charge you as much as 40 percent of what you need, meaning that if you ask for Z$200 million, you can only receive Z$120 million," said John Kangai, a self-employed carpenter. "People are taking advantage of others because of the prevailing economic crisis, but that is not fair. I am struggling to make ends meet and the greedy are seeing an opportunity in the crisis to make quick and lazy money." (...)While individuals cannot draw more than Z$5 million, companies have to contend with a maximum withdrawal of Z$20 million, which used to be the limit for persons making ordinary withdrawals. (...) Eric Bloch, an economist and consultant to the RBZ, said the cash crisis was mainly due to hyperinflation. "Inflation is so intense that people need up to six times the amount of money that they required a month ago to buy the same commodity. On the other hand, the RBZ has stopped printing more money because, I understand, their printing machine has broken down," Bloch told IRIN. Zimbabwe's inflation rate is officially pegged at almost 8,000 percent - the new rate has yet to be announced - but various independent economists have put inflation at nearer to 15,000 percent. (...)