In Zimbabwe, bread costs Z$10 million

With inflation at 100,000 percent, few can afford even basic goods.

from the March 25, 2008 edition

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Bulawayo, Zimbabwe - In her pink-and-yellow Indian sari, Neeti Patel sees the customers come into her shop, look longingly at the sandwiches, and walk back out empty handed.

It's not that her prices are high – a sausage sandwich sells for a mere 30 million Zimbabwe dollars, or about $1.25. The problem is that Zimbabwe's skyrocketing inflation – now the world's highest, running at more than 100,000 percent a year – keeps her costs rising. A 30-pound bag of potatos cost 90 million in the first week of March. Now that same bag costs 160 million, and her potential customers simply don't have the money.

"We have to put the prices up, but then people cannot manage to pay us," sighs Ms. Patel, who moved to Zimbabwe with her husband six months ago from India, assuming that this southern African nation would present the same opportunities to her as it has for generations of Indian shopkeepers. "But if we don't raise our prices up, we don't see any profit. We didn't think it would be like this."

There are plenty of theories for why Zimbabwe has descended from Southern Africa's breadbasket to its basket case. Western economists blame the socialist-inspired redistribution of commercial farms by President Robert Mugabe to his cronies and supporters. Mr. Mugabe's supporters blame Western governments, which withdrew economic aid in response to Mugabe's human rights violations. Whatever the cause, the hardship of ordinary Zimbabweans is easy to see in their shops and homes, and difficult to resolve as long as Mugabe and his supporters stay in power.