Talk:Economy of Zimbabwe

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I recently read in the newspaper (Adelaide Advertiser) that inflation is now running at 213,000,000%. Is this true? If so, shouldn't the article be updated?

P.S The BBC also mentions it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7660569.stm

The Advertiser also said that at this rate, in approximately three weeks it will hit 1 billion.

58.106.113.27 (talk) 08:02, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

In calculating GDP per capita, there is a problem with Zimbabwe.

Currently 3-4 million Zimbabweans have fled the country due to the unstable political and economic conditions.

These Zimbabweans contribute greatly to the economy in the form of forex remittances home.

Question:

Do we include these 3-4 million in the popluation count for purposes of the GDP per capita?

If not, do we exclude their remittances as part of the GDP?

Also, there are two exchange rates: Official (revalued) ZWD 250 per USD and Parallel about revalued ZWD60 000 000 (revalued)March 2008 per USD.

If we use GDP based on exchange rate, which rate do we use?

If we do NOT use GDP based on exchange rate, do we use the PPP?

Blair 15 Sept 2006

I believe remittances are not part of the GDP anyway, and should not be included. They're usually included in the GNI (Gross National Income), which also includes foreign aid and such. 217.72.81.13 (talk) 10:47, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Sanctions

The opening paragraph states "The economy of Zimbabwe is collapsing under the weight of international sanctions,", then later "However, the only sanctions in place are personal sanctions against about 130 senior Zanu-PF figures; there are no sanctions against trade or investment with Zimbabwe.". This is a massive contradiction in the article. WhiteCat 04:33, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Quite right, it is. The sanctions are specific to ZANU-PF cabinet members, and has no effect on the economy of Zimbabwe. Darkmind1970 11:00, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

What about the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001? How should this be limited to ZANU-PF cabinet members only and NOT have any impact on the economy of Zimbabwe?? 194.29.82.2 (talk) 12:44, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

That act does not apply 'sanctions' as such (bars on trade and investment). It is simply a refusal to give any more money aid to Zim till needed reforms take place, except emergency food aid. Read all about it: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/EM747.cfm Anyone is still free to trade and invest in Zim (unlike, say, Cuba, which does have sanctions against it). It is just that they would be chumps to do so with the current regime in power. Stop trying to blame the current disaster on anything but the regime. 12.149.136.2 (talk) 20:45, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

On the contrary, stop trying to blame the current disaster on ONLY the regime. Political and economic problems have complex causes, and this isn't an exception - it's disingenuous and biased to explain everything that has happened in Zimbabwe with the word "Mugabe."

I changed 'by far the world's worst' in the opening paragraph talking about the economy to 'one of the world's worst'. Zimbabwe still does not have the lowest GDP per capita in the world and though inflation might be the worst, I am sure many countries in Africa and a couple in Asia rank worse in general economic conditions. In any case, it was an unsupported value judgment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.177.236.113 (talk) 15:30, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Fake inflation rate?

Inflation has surpassed that of all other nations at over 80 Sextillion%

Is this correct or is it made up?

See: http://cato.org/zimbabwe

It is correct that the inflation has surpassed that of all other nations (Burma is in second place, with ~40% annual inflation), though the actual number is very difficult to determine. Cato institute gives it's own estimate, which may or may not be correct. I would favor using their numbers, especially since there are no other remotely reliable figures. 193.95.195.91 (talk) 11:43, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

EU & US sanctions may be key contributors to the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy

In 2003 the US placed sanctions as follows (from http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/ascii/zimb.txt):

Executive Order 13391 prohibits U.S. persons, wherever located, or anyone in the United States from engaging in any transactions with any person, entity or organization found to: 1.) be undermining democratic institutions and processes in Zimbabwe; 2.) have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support to these entities; 3.) be or have been an immediate family member of a sanctions target; or 4.) be owned, controlled or acting on behalf of a sanctions target.

I can't find the right source to indicate how long EU sanctions have been in place and how exhaustive they are, but from a very quick look on the EU's website, http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/measures.htm#Zimbabwe, it seems as though they have been in place since 2004 and I imagine they're very similiar to the US's sanctions.

In addition, Wikipedia also claims that in the land reform article on Zimbabwe,

Prior to land redistribution, land-owning farmers, mostly white, had large tracts of land and utilized economies of scale to raise capital, borrow money when necessary, and purchase modern mechanised farm equipment to increase productivity on their land. The primary beneficiaries of the land reform where members of the Government and their families

In other words:
1. As a result of the land reforms in Zimbabwe, large tracts of land are now in the hands of people loyal to Mugabe, including government officials, members of the military, and their family members.
2. The US & EU embargoed trade with anyone supporting Mugabe.
3. Therefore the EU & US have embargoed almost all agricultural goods produced in Zimbabwe (and then some, like prevented their access to the banking system, and I imagine has stopped them from purchasing many farming related goods like fuel, fertilizer, and machinery).
4. Therefore the EU & US are responsible for the economic collapse in Zimbabwe.

Of course, Wikipedia is not the place for original research, and as far as I know this is original research, but it is a very simple and convincing argument that can easily be checked.

At a minimum, the article is wrong about the scope of who is affected by the embargo, and it dismisses the possibility of the embargo's importance to affect the economy without any real critical investigation:

Mugabe's supporters maintain that economic hardship has been brought about by Western-backed economic sanctions instituted through the United Nations. However, the only sanctions in place are personal sanctions against about 130 senior Zanu-PF figures; there are no sanctions against trade or investment with Zimbabwe.

Wallers (talk) 18:12, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

According to the Wikipedia article on Zimbabwe, specifically a map of Zimbabwean expoerts in 2006, Zimbabwe still exports significant percentage of their goods to EU and USA. Their largest trading partner is South Africa, which does not have any sanctions in place. Furthermore, Zimbabwe has other significant trading partners in Japan, China and other neighboring African countries. Therefore the sanctions can not be the cause of the economic collapse. 217.72.81.13 (talk) 10:51, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Bias

If anyone was under any doubts that there is an inherit western bias in regards to zimbabwe then look no further than this page. The page starts off with how 'wonderful' the country was during colonisation and goes on to how black rule has messed it up. Virtually no information is given on the state of the country since tendai biti took over and stabilised the country. The time period of the economy from April 2009 to june 2010 is virtually BLANK. Hmm maybe its because its not convenient to see zimbabwe recovering. No wonder why Africans get upset at this bias from agents. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.17.141.110 (talk) 21:00, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Or maybe it's because the article needs to be updated. If you have some information that may be useful feel free to add it. As for Zimbabwe recovering, anything less than 10% annual growth of GDP is almost completely meaningless, since the base dropped so low. 91.198.112.2 (talk) 07:47, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

_Aside, any reports on the effects of Chinese investment in the country? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.64.180 (talk) 07:30, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Black supremacists shouldn't be allowed to comment on such facts. It is a pure fact that under the colonial rule, so called "White man's rule" Zimbabwe was one of the richest African countries and one of the world's economic tigers. Since 'White rule' has been abolished, Whites are persecuted under the black government, corruption is widespread and Zimbabwe turned into a real economic and political s*****. Sorry honey but that's just the pure facts. No racism here. No historical lies. by the way, same thing happened to the South Africa. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.65.227.150 (talk) 03:18, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Government wages?

What currency does the government use to pay wages now? USD? ZAR? What about other government transactions? Nil Einne (talk) 13:44, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

USD and ZWL, definitely not ZAR Mindthem (talk) 09:45, 14 January 2024 (UTC)

ITC external link on trade data

Hello everyone, I am working for the International Trade Centre (ITC). I would like to propose the addition of an external link that could lead directly to the specific country’s trade data held by ITC. I would like you to consider this link under the WP:ELYES #3 prescriptions. Moreover, the reliability and the pertinence of this link can be supported by the following facts 1) ITC is part of the United Nations 2) No registration is required 3) Trade data (imports/exports) are regularly updated 4) The link gives direct access to the trade database of the specific country 5) The addition of reliable trade data to the Economy section of the country could provide an appropriate contribution to the information therein contained. Thank you for your attention.Divoc (talk) 13:12, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Updating the Article.

I've updated several figures from the Economy table in the right corner and removed a lot of outdated info that is no longer relevant. All the data I added is from the CIA world factbook. Ill try to come back and clean some other things up but for now just wanted to get updated and relevant info on the table. I cut quite a bit of things out (4 separate older GDP figures) to keep it in line with the rest of Wikipedia's easy to read economic tables for countries. RedKiowa (talk) 19:32, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

- Does this article really add anything to the Economy section in the main Zimbabwe article? There seems no possibility that an article purporting to "explain" the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy can be free of bias, since everyone willing to discuss the subject holds a prior opinion (Interestingly - IMHO - an almost identical point applies to the adjudication of cases under international law). Why not just get rid of this article (which is written by someone with a poor command of English) and save the hassle? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.99.80.190 (talk) 05:54, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

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