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

Unique Zimbabwean Wallet

handpizza

Yesterday evening I experienced a very typical zimbabwean situation. Me and a friend wanted to go and get pizza to take away. So went into the takeaway place. The choice was Magherita or Hawai without pineapples but no cardbox boxes, alu foil or anything to take the pizza away in.

Why am I still surprised by things like that?

Small things that make you happy

We had a party Friday night at our place. Just as the first group of guests arrived, they stopped puzzled outside the kitchen door in complete darkness with the fuses making an aweful noise. That is, we had just gone to switch the generator off and the mains on because the power was back. ... and stayed for the whole party.

Antelope Park

Went to Antelope Park for the weekend, which is amazing! Walk with lions, swim with elephants, see all the game you can imagine and get bitten by mozzies.

They breed lions to release to national parks ... and on Sunday morning a group of wildlife guards left to track a wild lion that was seen on a farm nearby.

Antelope Park

Antelope Park

Antelope Park

Farewell Party

Farewell Party

New Inflation stories

From Bloomberg, 16 November: Zimbabwe's inflation soars to 14,841% on food, fuel

By Brian Latham

Zimbabwe's inflation soared to 14,841 percent last month as food and fuel shortages deepened a crisis in the world's fastest-shrinking economy. Inflation accelerated from 7,982 percent in September, said an official at the Central Statistical Office in the capital, Harare. There are so few goods left in shops that it has become impossible to ensure the data's accuracy, said the official, who declined to be named in line with the agency's policy. (...)

From The Times (UK), 17 November: Cash runs out in land where the bus fare is 1.6 m dollars

Other countries stricken by hyperinflation have coped by printing vast quantities of banknotes with rapidly increasing numbers of zeroes. In Zimbabwe, however, the phenomenon of "Mugabenomics" has delivered a three-headed monster - exponentially rising prices, a critical cash shortage, because the Government regards adding new rows of zeroes on the banknotes as an admission of defeat, and virtually nothing to buy in the shops because price controls have destroyed the retail trade. The Z$200,000 (7p) note, the highest, has almost disappeared. (...)

From The Zimbabwe Independent, 16 November: $1 million note on the way as cash crisis worsens

Paul Nyakazeya

Cash shortages worsened this week amid speculation that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was working on plans to introduce higher denominations of bearers' cheques. Businessdigest understands that the central bank is finalising the introduction of $500 000 and $1 million notes. The new bearer's cheque notes are likely to be introduced early next month. (...)

From the news: Going back in time

From Associated Press, 16 November: Mugabe, top politicians paid woman now accused of fraud in fuel-from-rocks claim

Harare - President Robert Mugabe has said ministers at a Cabinet meeting he chaired agreed to pay two head of cattle and three buffaloes to a woman who claimed she could produce gasoline out of rocks, the official media reported Friday. Mugabe later order the woman's arrest on fraud charges. (...)