Fear of hyperinflation stalks Zimbabwe

Austin Mushanguri shakes his head in dejection and walks away from the fridges in an affluent supermarket in Zimbabwe’s capital after reading a sign saying he can only buy one bottle of beer instead of the dozen he’d hoped for.

Similar scenes are playing out across the southern African nation, where foreign-exchange shortages and austerity measures have left consumers facing long lines for everything from fuel to bread and sugar, and sent prices soaring. It’s the latest challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s newly-elected government, which is trying to rebuild an economy wrecked by the misrule of former leader Robert Mugabe.

“How do they expect me to queue in the shops over 12 times to buy a single bottle of this beer?” Mushanguri, 41, asked. “This not what we voted for, this is not what we expected after elections.”

Zimbabweans were optimistic about an economic revival when the military ousted Mugabe in November after four decades in power. That’s going to take time and will “entail pain and the need for sacrificing short-term gains for longer-term prosperity,” according to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who Mnangagwa appointed last month to attract foreign investment, reduce mass unemployment and narrow a gaping fiscal deficit.

Ncube introduced a tax increase on money transfers last week to try and stabilise the government’s finances. The announcement triggered a rise in basic-commodity prices, stoking fears of an inflationary spiral.