ZIMBABWE ' S MONEY RUNS OUT
REUTERS / PHILIMON BULAWAYO / FILE PHOTO
President Robert Mugabe Addresses To His Supporters During An Election Rally In Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe June 26, 2008
leash an inflationary spiral that could bleed the banking system of its last few dollars and wipe out Zimbabweans ' savings for the second time in less than a decade, economists say. The same happened in 2008: powerful individuals with access to dollars at the official 1:1 rate were able to buy bond notes at a discount on the unofficial market and then convert them back to dollars at face value. " You start with one dollar, then you ' ve got 10, then you ' ve got 100, then you ' ve got 1,000- and it ' s not even lunchtime," said John Robertson, one of Zimbabwe ' s most respected private economists. In Harare ' s chaotic Road Port bus station, the main terminus for those heading to and from South Africa, Zimbabwe ' s biggest trading partner, some bus operators are fearing the worst. Required to pay nearly all their expenses- fuel, road tolls and police bribes in Zimbabwe and
IT ' S LIKE BEING ON DEATH ROW.
YOU DON ' T KNOW WHEN
THE HANGMAN IS GOING TO OPEN
YOUR CELL DOOR
South Africa- in hard currency cash, they are particularly exposed.
" It ' s like being on death row. You don ' t know when the hangman is going to open your cell door," said ticket-seller Simba Muchenje, pulling a wad of worthless 2008 Zimbabwe dollars from his briefcase and tossing them onto the counter. " It ' s just taking us back to the bad old days." In interviews, none of eight money-changers trading South African rand and U. S. dollars said they would accept bond notes at their $ 1 face value because of fears of immediate depreciation. The rand and the U. S. dollar have become Zimbabwe ' s currencies since the local dollar was scrapped in 2009
" The banks may say 1:1, but here we say 2:1. We can ' t afford to pay the same as the banks. I ' m running a business, not a bank," said Patience, a 32-year-old money-changer.
Reassuring Words
Given Zimbabwe ' s recent history of hyperinflation, the RBZ is keen to allay fears the printing presses are about to go into overdrive, and that the bond notes are a roundabout route to a new Zim-
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