Rich elite prosper in Zim crisis
While shelves are bare in regular stores, other advertisements offer foodstuffs, cooking oil and even bank note counting machines to help traders in the hyperinflationary economy do their business. Harare economist John Robertson said about ZIM$6000 buys today what ZIM$100 bought in 1995. Black market gasoline, selling for four times the government’s fixed price, keeps traffic moving.

About 80 percent of the population live in poverty and according the UN World Food Programme, nearly half of all Zimbabweans will need food aid this year to avoid mass starvation. The state Central Statistical Office said last month annual inflation reached a record 269 percent and unemployment exceeded 70 percent, driving many unemployed to scavenge for goods to sell or sell furniture and other assets to survive.

A fraction of the rest — perhaps three percent, mostly President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party elite and their business associates — control the hugely profitable black market in goods and hard currency. They are enjoying boom times. Agencies selling limousines and even luxury cosmetics have reported record sales.