vostok
Well-Known Member
Zimbabwe: 10 numbers that will help you understand
what's actually going on
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is under house arrest after almost four decades in power
following a military takeover. Here are 10 numbers that will help you understand how the country got to where it is now.
1 = the tally of leaders in the last 37 years
President Mugabe, who led the country's liberation movement, has been in power
since independence in 1980. He served first as prime minister until the switch to a presidential system in 1987.
But the 93-year-old leader's years in office have been marked by economic crisis and the crushing
of dissent. He and his supporters have managed to stay in power for so long by using violence
and murder as an electoral strategy.
231 million per cent = inflation in July 2008
Zimbabwe's economy has struggled since land reforms were introduced in 2000.
The programme that saw white-owned farms redistributed to landless black Zimbabweans
- and those with good political connections - led to sharp falls in production.
As the country's central bank printed money to try to get out of the crisis,
rampant inflation took hold.
Although the World Bank does not have figures for 2008 and 2009, numbers from Zimbabwe's
central bank showed annual inflation reached 231 million % in July 2008. Officials gave
up reporting monthly statistics when it peaked at just under 80 billion % in mid-November 2008.
The country was forced to abandon its own currency a year later at a rate of Z$35 quadrillion to US$1.
More here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42013720
what's actually going on
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is under house arrest after almost four decades in power
following a military takeover. Here are 10 numbers that will help you understand how the country got to where it is now.
1 = the tally of leaders in the last 37 years
President Mugabe, who led the country's liberation movement, has been in power
since independence in 1980. He served first as prime minister until the switch to a presidential system in 1987.
But the 93-year-old leader's years in office have been marked by economic crisis and the crushing
of dissent. He and his supporters have managed to stay in power for so long by using violence
and murder as an electoral strategy.
231 million per cent = inflation in July 2008
Zimbabwe's economy has struggled since land reforms were introduced in 2000.
The programme that saw white-owned farms redistributed to landless black Zimbabweans
- and those with good political connections - led to sharp falls in production.
As the country's central bank printed money to try to get out of the crisis,
rampant inflation took hold.
Although the World Bank does not have figures for 2008 and 2009, numbers from Zimbabwe's
central bank showed annual inflation reached 231 million % in July 2008. Officials gave
up reporting monthly statistics when it peaked at just under 80 billion % in mid-November 2008.
The country was forced to abandon its own currency a year later at a rate of Z$35 quadrillion to US$1.
More here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42013720
