There is a current shortage of ZWL liquidity in the market, and government is claiming a victory in its war against inflation and runaway exchange rates. Is this victory real, and is it sustainable?

With long winding fuel queues becoming common in Zimbabwe, as foreign currency shortages deepened, Robert Mugabe stitched a $360 million fuel supply deal with Libya. This deal was not for nothing however, as Gaddafi pounced on Mugabe’s desperation to accumulate assets in Zimbabwe.

Unlike most global crises, the Russia-Ukraine war isn’t one of those ‘who cares’ type of events. Instead, it has very real and far reaching implications for Zimbabwe.

“Baccossi”, “Aspef”, “Plarp” are just a few of the acronyms coined by Gideon Gono to describe his now infamous quasi-fiscal activities during his time as RBZ governor. Gono oversaw a period of massive inflation, looting of state resources and a ballooning of the central bank’s debt. This episode looks at this dark period, and some of Gono’s most prominent quasi fiscal interventions.

Royal Bank Zimbabwe was on a firm growth trajectory, until one day when everything went awry and the Directors surrendered their banking license. The founder Jeff Mzwimbi had been a stalwart in Corporate Zimbabwe, helping Strive Masiyiwa set up Econet Zimbabwe. Mzwimbi was also one of the first blacks to break into the heavily white dominated merchant banking industry in Zimbabwe. Here is his story.

A closer look into Zimbabwe’s first ever black Rhodes scholar, and former CEO of NMB Bank and MBCA Bank. David Hatendi loved life and lived a very eventful life filled with success, failure, humour. David presided over NMB Bank during the tumultuous mid-2000s banking crisis era, eventually stepping down following a fraud scandal at the bank.

A closer look into the corporate profiles of one of Zimbabwe’s well known and long serving CEO’s Mr Antony Mandiwanza. Mr Mandiwanza has been CEO of Dairibord Zimbabwe Holdings for over 20 years, and is a towering figure in corporate Zimbabwe. A leader who often divides opinion due to the length of his tenure as CEO.

Government recently announced a Covid-19 allowance of a non-taxable US$75 a month for the civil service. In addition, it also effected a 50% increase of the ZWL dollar salaries, to quell unrest in the civil service as the cost of living continues to rise. In this episode, I look at whether government can afford this, where this money will come from, and what this all means for the broader economy.

Zimbabwe has been here before, and this story is all too familiar. When it comes to its economy, time and again, we have seen that history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but it often rhymes. In 2008, over the course of just a single month, the RBZ issued a series of no less than 9 new notes. Is Zimbabwe headed again in that path?

Exactly 30 days from the date a harried Mthuli Ncube wrote to the IMF seeking financial assistance, the finance minister put out a series of tweets announcing plans to launch the VFEX to trade in foreign currency. This new stock exchange is aimed at attracting foreign investors especially for the mining sector. Will this move bring some much needed relief to Zimbabwe’s economy?