Zimbabwe being buffeted by its worst crisis

A Zimbabwean shopper in a Harare supermarket shook his head, grumbling as he returned a loaf of bread to a rack after finding the price had jumped by a third and he could no longer afford it.

Nearby, a more than a kilometerlong queue of cars waited for petrol at an empty fuel station in the hope it would receive a delivery. Zimbabwe is being buffeted by its worst economic crisis in over a decade, including scarcity of basics like fuel and cornmeal.

Prices of basic goods gallop every week as the value of the Zimbabwean dollar continues to tumble, pushing official annual inflation to 785.6 percent in April.

Poverty is deepening among the majority of the population — UN aid agencies say some 7.7 million

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On Wednesday, the price of fuel in the country soared by up to 152 percent.

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Prices of basic goods gallop every week as the value of the Zimbabwean dollar continues to tumble, pushing official annual inflation to 785.6 percent in April.

people, or half of the population, require food assistance.

A loaf of bread went up 36 percent last month and last week a 10-kilo sack of cornmeal jumped 30 percent.

On Wednesday, the price of fuel soared by up to 152 percent. A similar rise in January 2019 sparked countrywide demonstrations in which at least 17 people were killed. “Things cannot continue this way. These people should just admit they have failed,” said Harare resident Timothy Bhaureni, referring to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. Mnangagwa, who took power in 2017 following a military coup pledging to revive the moribund economy, now blames the economic malaise on unnamed “political detractors.”

“We are witnessing a relentless attack on our currency and the economy in general through exorbitant pricing models,” Mnangagwa told his ZANU-PF party’s politburo on June 10.