Lack of bank note paper threatens Zimbabwe economy

[meegbear]

A man shows a new Zimbabwean note in May. It was replaced by 25-billion and 50-billion-dollar bills (worth a U.S. dollar). With printing slowed, a shortage has arisen.

:wow:

It has come to this: Zimbabwe is about to run out of the paper to print money on.

Fidelity Printers & Refiners, the state-owned company that tirelessly churns out bank notes for the Robert Mugabe regime, was thrown into a crisis early this month after a German company stopped supplying bank note paper because of concerns over Zimbabwe's recent violent presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent by international observers.

The printing operation drastically slowed. Two-thirds of the 1,000-strong workforce was ordered to go on leave, and two of the three money-printing shifts were canceled.

The result on the streets was an immediate cash crunch.

"If you think this currency shortage is bad, wait two weeks. By then it will be a disaster," said a senior Fidelity staffer, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity because he would face dismissal and possible violence for talking to a Western journalist. The paper will run out in two weeks, he said.

<snip>

[Hydra]

1. Our credit crunch, but worse

Hopefully they know how to barter.

[HiddenCSLib]

9. That currency has an expiration date

I do not believe that I have ever seen that before.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. I cannot understand why Mugabe has insisted on clinging to power

He probably could have found some country which was willing to grant him exile for the right price. The rate of inflation there has been unbelievable, with the economy on a course for the stone age.

[truebrit71]

3. Literally not worth the paper it is printed on....

...wow....

The day that bastard Mugaube drops dead (of natural causes or not) will not come fast enough for that country...

[hogwyld]

4. Is this going to be the U.S.'s future?

If McShame is elected, I fear so.

[DFW]

5. Don't be such a pessimist. That wouldn't happen for at least six weeks.

[izquierdista]

6. Artificial shortage

Can't they just stock up at Wal-Mart or Tesco like the rest of us?

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Those are probably worth more than Zimbabwean currency

[cobalt1999]

8. When Mugabe's army can't buy food, watch how quick they turn on him.

All his pointing at whites and western nations won't distract a starving nation anymore.