Zimbabwe

From Mises Wiki, the global repository of classical-liberal thought
Jump to: navigation, search
Country summary

Capital

Harare

Borders

Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa 225 km, Zambia 797 km

Government type

parliamentary democracy

Population

11,392,629[1]

Population growth

1.53% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

45.77 years[1]

Unemployment

95% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

178[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

146[3]

Doing Business ranking

159[4]


The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008 contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the ZANU-PF-led government with the opposition winning a majority of seats in parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the most votes in the presidential polls, but not enough to win outright. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June 2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in international condemnation of the process. Difficult negotiations over a power-sharing government, in which MUGABE remained president and TSVANGIRAI became prime minister, were finally settled in February 2009, although the leaders have yet failed to agree upon many key outstanding governmental issues.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: (N/A)
  • Central bank discount rate: NA% (31 December 2009)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2009 )[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $NA (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $NA (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 5 964 7 399 10 256 21 897 7 397 4 712 3 418
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8]
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9]
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10]
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Zimbabwe", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Zimbabwe", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Zimbabwe", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Zimbabwe", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 392. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 124. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Zimbabwe: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Zimbabwe: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Zimbabwe: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Zimbabwe: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.

Links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.mises.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Zimbabwe&oldid=27667"