Zimbabwe had been self-sufficient in most household supplies until June 2007, when the government ordered a price freeze that forced businesses to sell products below cost. Now, toilet tissue is being imported from Malaysia, toothpaste from Egypt and soap from Iran.
In August the central bank struck 10 zeros from the Zimbabwe currency, but computerized accounting systems and automatic tellers have been unable to handle transactions in trillions of local dollars.
Aid agencies estimate up to 2 million people will need food aid next month, amid regular power and water outages and chronic shortages of gasoline, corn meal, bread, milk and other staples.
President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, blames Western sanctions for the economic collapse. But critics point to his 2000 order that commercial farms be seized from whites. The often violent seizures disrupted the agriculture-based economy.
Western sanctions targeting individuals and companies supporting Mugabe's regime were tightened after disputed elections in March and June that led to a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and his opponents signed Sept. 15.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have so far failed to agree on the composition of a unity Cabinet.
Read more news
Russia To Build Civil Nuclear Plant in India
Forum
STATISTICS
Source: 
