One of the key issues confronting the electorate in the 2008 election is who can be trusted to steer the country back to the road from the wilderness that Zanu (PF) has taken us into? In this new series, our SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT looks at the different sectors of life that have been destroyed by Zanu (PF)’s misrule.
When President Clinton beat George Bush Senior for the US Presidency he famously said in a debate – it’s the economy, stupid! We might well say the same thing today as Zimbabwe approaches the most critical election in its short history. Nothing else signifies the failure of the present regime more than the state of the economy.
The statistics are harsh, GDP has fallen by over 50 per cent since 2000, exports by 70 per cent, tourism and food production by 80 per cent, industry by 40 per cent and now mining is contracting in volume for the first time. This has resulted in government tax revenues falling in real terms and the regime has been forced to print money recklessly to pay its bills leading to hyperinflation now standing officially at 27 000 per cent and unofficially at over 100 000 per cent per annum.
In 1980 a Zimbabwe dollar would buy you nearly two US dollars. Today in the same currency, one US dollar buys 7 500 000 000 Zimbabwe dollars. Employment has collapsed to a mere 8 per cent of the national population, formal incomes have depreciated by 90 per cent and poverty and hunger are more widespread than ever before, the gains of a 100 years of enterprise and hard work have been virtually wiped out.
One of the key issues confronting the electorate in this election is who can be trusted to steer the country back to the road from the wilderness that Zanu (PF) has taken us in to? How quickly can the recovery be put in place and what are the policies that will turn thing around? There is widespread pessimism as to the prospects for recovery and growth.
The MDC policy platform calls for substantive reforms to be adopted early in the days of the new government. This will lead to the unification of both exchange rates and interest rates on a market driven basis, it will involve the lifting of both exchange rate and price controls and demands that all State controlled institutions in the economy operate on a viable basis. At the same time taxes will be revised and government placed on a basis where it can only spend what it earns in revenue.
Such reforms will rapidly curtail inflation and this will be a central objective of the new government. At the same time wages and salaries will be adjusted to restore real buying power and to protect the living standards of those in employment while the reforms take hold and become effective. For those who are unemployed and operating in the informal sector the MDC plans wide ranging interventions to protect the poor and the vulnerable and the disadvantaged – who are in the majority today.
In the longer term it will take time to restore confidence and reestablish security over assets and investment in Zimbabwe. Once this takes place investment and business activity is expected to resume across the economy with mining and tourism leading the way. Agriculture and industry will take longer but are also expected to resume growth in a short space of time.
Post published in: News