ASSESSMENTS

There's Little Zimbabwe Can Do To Reverse Its Economic Rot

Jan 25, 2019 | 10:00 GMT

A Zimbabwean soldier watches shoppers lining up in Bulawayo on Jan. 17, 2019.

A Zimbabwean soldier watches shoppers lining up in Bulawayo on Jan. 17, 2019. Harare is running out of options to rectify the country's economic woes.

(ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • A shortage of foreign currency has put Zimbabwe in a dire economic situation with little means for short-term recovery.
  • The government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa will face increasing pressure from popular protests, which could prompt a hard crackdown.
  • Mnangagwa is in a race against time, as a further depletion of currency reserves could threaten his ability to sustain wage payments to the security forces.
  • Long-term relief for Zimbabwe will require significant investments that the country cannot undertake at present due to the lack of significant currency reserves or access to lines of credit.
 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been in Zimbabwe's hot seat for only a little over a year, but his government is feeling considerable heat. The legacy of a persistently weak economy under Mnangagwa's predecessor, Robert Mugabe, has left the country with few currency reserves. And last week, conditions became so dire that strikers and protesters took to the streets in Zimbabwe's two biggest cities to demand change. The protests have subsided for now, but the country's underlying economic woes have not -- and that spells trouble for the future of Mnangagwa's government....

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