Hyperinflation in action (and a nominee for photo of the year)

This from today’s NYT:

The Zimbabwean Health Minister…has declared the nation’s cholera outbreak a national emergency and appealed for outside help… The epidemic has claimed more than 560 lives…

The cholera epidemic and the new crackdown on dissent come in a country already mired in desperation. The government is paralyzed by a stalemated power-sharing deal, and the official inflation rate is 231 million percent. Grocery shelves are largely barren. Most public hospitals and schools are closed.

Cholera?  Seriously?

And that’s the “official” inflation rate, which won’t be declining any time soon, not with Mugabe holding all levers of power and his central banker turning to Jesus for economic guidance.  From a Journal article last July:

Custodian of a currency in free fall in a country ravaged by hyperinflation, Gideon Gono, Zimbabwe’s central-bank governor, scoffs at “traditional economics” and seeks guidance elsewhere.

He says he reads the Bible.

This, says the guardian of Zimbabwe’s monetary policy, has taught him the importance of obeying Robert Mugabe, the country’s 84-year-old leader and architect of policies widely blamed for the destruction of a once-flourishing African economy.

“Anyone who says the bank governor should violate the head of state is violating a principle that Jesus Christ demanded of his disciples,” says Mr. Gono, a churchgoing Christian and former commercial banker. “A key element Christ looked for in his disciples was loyalty.”

The above would be comical if Zim’s situation wasn’t so sad.

To the right is an example of how Mugabe intimidated voters on election day earlier this year.  I originally saw this photo on the cover of the NYT, but I believe the photo credit goes to the Zimbabwe Times.  The paper said the baby’s legs were broken because his father was an opposition party official.

And note the by-line:  “our correspondent.”

You can bet if the reporter had been identified by name, Mugabe’s goons would have found him.  And done more than break his legs…

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Update from CNN today (hat tip Randall):

The health crisis is taking place against a background of increased security in the face of expected runs on banks.

Armored cars patrolled the streets of Zimbabwe’s capital and residents flocked to banks Thursday after limits on cash withdrawals were lifted in the inflation-ravaged African nation.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had capped maximum daily withdrawals at 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars — about 25 U.S. cents, and about a quarter of the price of a loaf of bread. But faced with mounting chaos in a country already in economic free fall, the bank decided last week to raise that limit to 100 million dollars ($50 U.S.) per week.

Soldiers were deployed to all banks in anticipation of throngs of people lining up to withdraw money Thursday, when the increase took effect. Wednesday, police chased depositors away and arrested union leaders who planned to protest the limits.

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