November 21, 2007

No cash available

This is obviously a new political strategy, maybe to bring inflation down: There is no cash available anywhere, not at the banks either.

From AFP, 21 November: Cash problems cause long queues in Harare

Harare - Zimbabweans endured hours in long queues at banks on Tuesday as a cash shortage forced limits on withdrawals, with the country in the midst of an economic crisis. "Things have gotten worse since the weekend," said an official at a bank in central Harare where a queue of waiting customers snaked outside the building. Bankers blamed the shortages on a drastic cut in allocations from the Central Bank, but Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono denied the charge. "We have pumped in a lot of money in the form of this support and that support... but you find the situation where there is no cash," Gono told a news conference. "So we have taken the view that we will watch and see. It's not like we can't do anything. We can, but surely to what extent. We need to sober up as Zimbabweans." Banks were dispensing half the daily cash limits to customers. "We have decided to limit withdrawals so that everybody at least gets some money," one banker said. (...)

Half the daily limit, that's 10 million = half a crate of beer

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