Zimbabwe central bank actions like ‘putting lipstick on a frog’

Economic crisis is reminiscent of meltdown preceding dollarisation in 2008, but authorities have fewer options this time

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Baynham Goredema

Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old president is facing arguably his toughest challenge yet: to drag the country – which marked 37 years of independence in April this year – away from the brink of complete economic collapse. Even with the support of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), he may not succeed.

The government of Robert Mugabe has accrued a budget deficit of $1.6 billion, equivalent to 11.5% of GDP; $1.4 billion of the country’s debt is held by commercial banks in the form of treasury bills

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