"At close of 2008, only 6% of the population was formally employed,
down from 30% in 2003," said a report from the UN’s office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Out of the country’s 12 million people, only 480 000 have formal jobs, down from 3,6 million in 2003, the report said.
"The most obvious indicator of the current decline is the staggering
inflation rate," last estimated at 231 million percent in July, it said.
The new data was contained in an appeal by OCHA for 35 agencies working
in the country, seeking $550-million to assist the 5,1 million
Zimbabweans in need of food aid.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that seven million
Zimbabweans will need food aid in February and March to survive until
the next harvest in April, this is a 35% increase from the previous
estimate made last year, the WFP added.
Zimbabwe’s once-dynamic economy has shrunk by more than 45% over the
past five years, leaving half of Zimbabwe’s urban population relying on
remittances from friends and family overseas, the OCHA report said.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled the country’s economic
and political instability, and are now supporting their families with
both cash and food.
"Importantly, in 2008 remittances from Zimbabweans in neighbouring
countries — South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique —
were in the form of food and essential household commodities, as well
as cash," the report said.
The economic collapse has also made it difficult for aid agencies to
work in Zimbabwe, it added, citing high prices for supplies, troubles
ensuring payment of salaries, spotty access to food for staff and fuel
shortages.
Adding to Zimbabwe’s woes are consecutive years of drought and a
land-reform programme launched in 2000, in which some mostly 4 000
white-owned commercial farms were seized and redistributed to blacks.
The scheme has punched a gapping hole in agricultural production, which
once accounted for 40% of the economy, as most of the new beneficiaries
lack both farming equipment and expertise.– Sapa-AFP, Reuters