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One of Zimbabwe leading banks, the Standard Chartered Bank, reported on Wednesday that the country’s foreign currency shortage was growing and that the economic outlook for the country was deteriorating.
In a review for the month of May carried in news reports, the bank also said inflation could rise above 70 percent and that the economy could shrink by at least 5 percent because of political violence and intimidation which has already claimed 26 lives in the past two months.
“Zimbabwe’s economic outlook has deteriorated dramatically in the last six weeks,” the bank said. “It now appears that GDP will fall by at least 5 percent in 2000 and conceivably a good deal more.” It said that unless there was a “radical change in policy, not just in regard to land, but also in macroeconomic management,” the rate of decline could accelerate after the parliamentary elections on 24-25 June.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions