ZIMBABWEAN Finance Minister Simba Makoni said on Tuesday the country’s economy was in crisis and that poverty was spreading at an alarming rate. ”I would have to be foolish to deny what is evident to everybody in broad daylight, even in the darkness of night — this economy is in crisis,” Makoni said in a BBC television interview. Questioned about the impact on ordinary Zimbabweans in urban and rural areas, he said: ”Severe. Poverty is entrenching here at a rate that is very alarming.” Before the BBC interview, Makoni had already painted a bleak picture of the southern African country’s economy — with looming food shortages and empty state coffers which analysts say threaten to spark street protests. – Reuters
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