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/ 22 January 2008
President Robert Mugabe’s government has ordered banks to end a banknote shortage or risk being closed, state media reported on Wednesday. Banknotes have joined the long list of basic commodities in short supply in the Southern African country, which is grappling with an acute economic crisis blamed on Mugabe’s policies.
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/ 30 November 2007
Thousands of Zimbabwean war veterans gathered in Harare on Friday to lead a ”million-man march” in support of President Robert Mugabe’s bid to extend his rule despite a severe economic crisis blamed on his government. Mugabe (83) and in power since Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, is seeking re-election in presidential and parliamentary elections set for March 2008.
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/ 30 November 2007
Zimbabwe’s 2008 budget seems bereft of concrete measures to curb hyperinflation and ill suited to provide the economic rebound it promises a population faced with growing hardship. The Southern African country, facing the uncertainties of presidential and parliamentary elections next year, is in the grip of a punishing recession.
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/ 30 November 2007
Zimbabwe’s finance minister proposed cutting taxes for the growing number of poor, increasing taxes on some manufacturers and cracking down on the black market as cures for his nation’s economic crisis. Samuel Mumbengegwi’s budget speech on Thursday was televised — but unavailable to many because of power failures.
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/ 29 November 2007
Zimbabwe’s economy is forecast to grow by 4% next year, which would be the first expansion in nearly a decade, while inflation should slow, the finance minister said on Thursday. Samuel Mumbengegwi did not devalue the Zimbabwe dollar as expected but analysts quickly dismissed the growth and inflation expectations.
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/ 18 October 2007
The Zimbabwean government’s isolation from the international economic arena has forced it to turn right while indicating left. The country’s Deputy Minister of Industry and International Trade recently made a startling admission when he said that the European Union remains the troubled Southern African country’s key trade partner.
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/ 7 September 2007
President Robert Mugabe’s exchange-rate devaluation and promises of tax relief were dismissed on Friday by Zimbabweans weary of an economic crisis marked by the world’s highest inflation and severe shortages. His government’s latest bid to ease the economic turmoil, announced in a supplementary budget on Thursday, highlighted the worsening plight of the Southern African nation.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi on Thursday massively devalued the local dollar in a bid to attract scarce foreign currency to the official market. In a supplementary budget speech broadcast live on state radio, Mumbengegwi said the Zimbabwe dollar would now trade at 30 000 to the United States dollar, down from 250.
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/ 4 September 2007
Zimbabwe is likely to offer tax relief in a supplementary budget on Thursday but may have to print more money to keep cash-strapped government departments running ahead of elections in 2008. The Southern African country is suffering inflation of more than 7 000%, fast eroding income for workers struggling to feed their families.