The millionaire from Zimbabwe
published 27 April 2007, MST
X is a writer from Zimbabwe. His job pays him 200 thousand Zimbabwean dollars a month.
His transport costs alone, though, come up to 220 thousand. Then he still has to cover his rent, utilities, groceries and other expenses. He has a young wife; they don’t think they can afford to have a child yet.
X is resourceful. Once a week, he hops over to nearby Botswana to buy car paint. He hauls it back to his hometown, where, because of the influx of second-hand vehicles, demand for paint is high. This activity fetches him an additional 5 million dollars, so he is pretty much covered. He says his friends have their own means to get by.
Still, he does not like to keep his millions in the bank. Inflation rate in his country is close to 1,800 percent—and that’s not a typographical error. So as soon as he gets his hard-earned money, X dashes to the supermarket, stacks up on supplies to last his family for a month, pays his bills, and then goes to the black market to exchange the rest of his money for US dollars. He keeps his prized possession, his foreign currency, under his pillow. He says it helps him dream of good things.
In recent days, X has stumbled upon a piece of good luck: A professional training out of the country where he is provided with accommodation and transport allowance as well as a modest stipend to cover his day-to-day needs.
X now holds on to his precious euros, careful not to go on a shopping spree or buy any more food than what he actually can consume. He says the aggregate allowance is equivalent to five years worth of income—both from trading and writing. If he scrimped hard enough, he will be able to afford a car upon his homecoming. Would that not be fancy?
Not at all, he says. In fact, not even halfway through this course, he is already looking around for similar opportunities that would keep him out of Zimbabwe for a few more weeks or months.
Yes, according to him, it is that bad.
***
Zimbabwe is a country of 13 million people, 3.5 million of which are scattered in various other parts of the world. The unemployment rate is 80 percent. Gross domestic product shrunk 5.7 percent last year and has actually contracted 30 percent in the last 10 years. The exchange rate is erratic: In 2000, 1 US dollar was equivalent to 55 Zimbabwean dollars. After three years, the US dollar fetched 824 Zim dollars. By end 2006, it went back to 250—all because the central bank decided to slash three zeroes from the convoluted rate.
It is quite a story, one unlikely to exist under present conditions. But it does. X’s colleague, Y, says that when the government feels it does not have enough money to fund certain projects or pay for some imports, the President only has to write a nice letter to the central bank governor and the printers start churning out more money.
The Zimbabwean “situation” has become an enigma for the rest of the world. Most agree that even the most well-researched, sophisticated economic solutions would not work until the present administration realizes what a mess it has made out of everybody’s life. This ill brings down the entire country, heaping trouble upon every citizen—old and young, educated or illiterate, male or female.
Ultimately, no economic changes can be introduced without an overhaul of the political system, more so in the absence of political will.
Thus, desolation and helplessness permeate the streets. Despite the abundance of millionaires that populate them.
***
Relative to Zimbabwe’s, the Philippines’ economic performance looks phenomenal.
By leaps and bounds, our growth, inflation and balance of payments figures are more handsome. We have clear targets and, at least on paper, we know how to go about achieving them. See, economic advancement is not mere propaganda, contrary to what the opposition says. The country is really making progress, judging by the numbers that don’t lie and are in fact validated by impartial international organizations.
What, then, remains wrong?
The problem is not economic; it is social. It is not the government per se; it is governance.
The issue is not whether there are prospects for sustainable growth; it is whether the inequitable income distribution will ever be addressed.
Will the poor ever be empowered, contribute to the country’s output and partake of its gains? Will a greater portion of the population be able to cross over the poverty threshold?
The question is not whether the government can generate enough funds to support basic services and infrastructure projects; it is whether the money is used prudently and released only for purposes earlier identified.
Will the corruption menace ever be overcome? Will there be an end to politicians enriching themselves at the expense, literally and figuratively, of the people?
In Zimbabwe, everybody is in a rut.
Here in the Philippines, many are in a rut with a few chosen ones thriving in posh villages. And from a moral point of view, that’s equally bad. Equally despicable.
