Mugabe Decree To Keep Inflation At Bay

By Stewart Douglas

Zimbabwe has taken drastic steps today in law enforcement as an attempt to bring inflation under control, according to reports from international news agencies today.

President Mugabe has decreed a nationwide ban on price increases in an attempt to keep inflation under control.  The move will cover all wage rises and price increases to decrease inflation, with prison as a consequence for breaking the law.

The Zimbabwe economy has been crippling under the pressures of record high inflation, which is currently officially standing at 7,600% on the year leading to widespread emigration and a significant drop in living standards.

After years of economic degeneration, unemployment in Zimbabwe has now reached 80%, with thousands of citizens fleeing their homes to neighbouring South Africa every day.

As supermarket shelves lie empty and fuel prices skyrocket, jobs have become as scarce as bread in the troubled southern-African nation, with businesses struggling to open their doors.

The news was disseminated through a state owned national newspaper, and was passed by decree rather than by act of parliament.  Only the National Incomes and Prices Commission may sanction price rises, which have been frozen across both public and private sectors.

Mr. Mugabe has blamed much of the economic misfortunes suffered by Zimbabwe on sanctions from the UK and other Western nations.  Many analysts attribute the failure of the economy to the Mugabe-endorsed campaign to drive out white farmers from their land back in the year 2000.

However, experts have suggested that the measures would be like ‘reversing the laws of gravity’, and consequently won’t work to calm the inflation problem.

With the national infrastructure waning, and basic raw materials unavailable through the worthless Zimbabwean currency, it is hard to see any way forward for what was once a resilient, plentiful economy.