Price Fall Cause Some Zimbabweans Pain

The food stock is slowly making a comeback in many Zimbabwean shelves, and their prices are currently on a freefall after several years of going higher and higher. However, the end of this black market will only leave very little to be happy about for a good number of people in Zimbabwe. For individuals who are like Beatrice Kurwa, things are going to be a bit glum. The twenty five year old teacher in a primary school located in Highfield Township says that she welcomes signs of the returning stability of the economy but she will only have around one hundred dollars per month because of no informal earnings.

No Allowance, More Hardships

Kurwa reports that she may be happy to enter a shop and buy what she wants and needs – in the past. Now, she has to live on her allowance and it is going to get much harder to make it on a day to day basis because she currently has no other source of income left. There are many goods which have flooded back into the market, and this is of the government’s doing. They have decided that it might be better to abandon the worthless local currency, the dollar – which had earlier been destroyed because of inflation. This inflation is one which had topped off around two hundred and thirty million percent, and because of this the local citizens of Zimbabwe have begun using foreign sources of currency. Such a change had also once raised hopes of people that the newly united government led by President Robert Mugabe as well as his former enemy Morgan Tsvangirai might be able to revive their ruined state.

Prices Fall Elsewhere, Black Markets Gone

Such news means that people will no longer have other opportunities to make additional money by crossing borders going to South Africa and buying their maize meal, flour and cooking oil which they sell on their black market. Thus, the long lines waiting to buy basic goods are long gone. The prices of maize meal, bread, cooking oil and sugar had gone down by half a point ever since December and it continues to fall down based on expectations that there will now be additional incentives for other industries that want to raise their production.

John Robertson, one consultant economist, also says that things really have gone a bit out of control. However, there will be little room for speculation because each dollar will really count. Those who are enterprising enough may even find a bit of value in this Zimbabwe dollar, even though it may be quite difficult to spend such in a shop. This is because the bill denomination will be around one hundred trillion dollars for only twenty United States dollars when converted to foreign currency.

The enterprising are even finding some value in the Zimbabwe dollar, although it is impossible to spend in shops. Bills denominated for as much as Z$100 trillion can sell for up to $20 to the few foreign tourists.