Price blitz ‘will claim 400,000 jobs’

he country’s runaway rate of inflation, which is currently around 7,600 percent, the government two months ago deployed state agents, the police, army and youth militias to move from shop to shop, forcing owners to slash prices of mainly basic foodstuffs.
This resulted in an unprecedented rush for goods, which has left shops empty and managers not willing to re-stock for fear of incurring huge losses.
Most long-distance and urban transport operators, who were also forced to reduce fares, have grounded their fleets, while garages have stopped restocking their tanks.
Economic analysts this week warned that the country’s food crisis will worsen within the next couple of weeks as manufacturers of bread, maize meal and cooking oil, among other goods, have stopped production.
“The country will totally run out of food within the next two weeks as a result of the price standoff between government and shops. All those celebrations we had seen from those that were fortunate enough to get the cheap goods have faded away, and they have begun cursing the government,” said an analyst who requested not to be named.
Already, more than four million Zimbabweans are reported to be either in need of or to be surviving on food aid due to a combination of factors, ranging from inadequate rainfall in farming areas, to the government’s controversial seizures of productive white-owned land, now owned by mostly political bigwigs, war veterans and Zanu (PF) supporters who have failed to maintain food production levels.
Bulawayo-based economic analyst, Eric Bloch, warned that the country’s seven-year-old economic spiral, which is largely blamed on mismanagement of the economy and bad governance by Mugabe, will accelerate within the next few weeks.
“For the past two months the government has been forcing businesses to operate at a loss and most shops are no longer re-stocking. There is also not even a single drop of fuel at filling stations due to the unrealistic prices that garages are forced to sell at and that has worsened the economic decline. The best way out of this crisis is for the government to modify its approach immediately,” said Bloch.
Some public transport operators manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are said to have warned heir workers that they might be forced to retrench them within the next three weeks if the government does not change its heavy-handedness on businesses, as they can no longer sustain large workforces.
“More than 300 000 people employed in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail shops are surely going to lose their jobs in the next few weeks if this trend continues because there is no business taking place at the moment and that should be blamed on the price crackdown by the state,” said Bloch.
In the transport sector, more than 100,000 jobs are being threatened by the government crackdown.
Leading clothing retailer, Edgars, has announced that it will close 19 of its branches nationwide, while some multi-national companies with large foreign ownership are gradually pulling out of the country.
Government has announced plans to take over companies that have stopped production – raising fears of an even worse economic collapse, bearing in mind the state of rundown parastatals like the National Railways of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company and the Cold Storage Company.