Buying a soda in Zimbabwe - $40

[iambrutus]

Link

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) The economic chaos engulfing Zimbabwe has turned even a mundane task such as renting a car into an unachievable dream for the average law-abiding citizen.
A car rental company on Saturday quoted a day rate of 690,000 Zimbabwe dollars to hire a basic model, plus a deposit of 25 million Zimbabwe dollars. This is the equivalent of a staggering $2,760 per day plus a deposit of $100,000 at the official exchange rate, but only about $35 and $1250, respectively, on the black market.
The figures provide an insight into the growth of the black market economy in this once-prosperous southern African nation, which is reeling under inflation of more than 1,700 percent and suffering from shortages of most basic goods.


A can of soda costs 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars, or $40 at the official rate, and 50 cents at the black market rate. The price of a bottle of imported Scotch whisky was around 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars, or $2,000 officially and $25 by the black market.

 

[TRON]

I'm glad I live in America

 

[Steve19]

The official exchange rate is irrelevant in a country like Zimbabwe si today. The buggers are pouring over our borders and ending up in our urban townships.

 

[coastalbuck]

The official exchange rate is irrelevant in a country like Zimbabwe si today. The buggers are pouring over our borders and ending up in our urban townships.

I take it shooting over to Zimbabwe for a few colds ones is not a good plan....

 

[martinss01]

wow... thats a very impressive savings! these... umm.. "african american" markets are going to put places like sam's club out of business once they make it to the states! think they sell gas as well?

 

[Buckeyedynasty]

Wow that is a really sad story. I hope they can find a way to fix those problems in Zimbabwe.

 

[stxbuck]

+


this clown

= much improved Zimbabwe.


I just read "Where We Have Hope" by Andrew Meldrum, the last foreign journalist expelled from Zimbabwe in 03'. It is a great book, but truly sad to see how a paranoid douchebag like Mugabe ruined one of the better run countries in Africa. The fact that Thabo Mbeki refuses to criticize Mugabe in the name of black solidarity isn't helping matters either. Mbeki has not impressed me as a statesman, unlike Mandela, or the opposition leaders in Zimbabwe.