Can the Zimbabwe Economy Recover?

By Andrew Moran.
Since Robert Mugabe became President of Zimbabwe, the economy has been on a heavy decline. Zimbabweans are buying bread with billions of Zimbabwe Dollars, violent is rampant and the government is corrupt. What's next?
The economy of Zimbabwe is devastating; hyperinflation is rampant, the agriculture sector is being run by people who do not know how to grow crops, violence is a daily occurrence and government corruption is being seen by Zimbabweans as part of the system.
There was hope for nation of Zimbabwe when western officials brokered a power-sharing deal between current President Robert Mugabe and for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Prior to the power-sharing deal, the nation held a controversial election, which saw Pres. Mugabe retain leadership. Throughout the campaign, MDC supporters were threatened, dissent was imprisonment and sometimes death occurred to constituents by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
In June, both leaders of the country sought monetary aid for the impoverished nation. Pres. Mugabe held a summit with Western and Eastern African nations to influence investors. Controversy came about when internationally indicted Sudanese President Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir was invited to the meeting.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai went to Washington to seek not only economic aid but also cancelling isolationist policies set forth by the European Union and the United States. Mr. Tsvangirai spoke at a conference, which was setup by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, and said, “We are a potentially vibrant economy. What we need is credit for our businesses and some injection into our recovery budget. It will be important for the U.S. to give transitional support to us, because the alternative is too ghastly if we fail.”
Mr. Tsvangirai’s visit to Washington was a success. US President Barack Obama pledged $73 million and the International Monetary Fund will resume aid, under strict conditions, to the African nation and will also relieve the $649 million debt that Zimbabwe owes.
Success in Harare cannot be foreseen due to vast amounts of economic problems because of many Pres. Mugabe’s policies, including one of transferring white-owned farmland to blacks.
As of December 2008, the annual inflation rate is 516 quintillion per cent. In March, the Zimbabwe Dollar was dumped and the country started to use the South African Rand and the United States Dollar as legal tender to bring back economic sanity to the region.
Before Pres. Mugabe’s rise to power, also the former nation of Rhodesia, Zimbabwe was the leading agricultural country on the African continent with such commodities: corn, cotton, tobacco, coal, gold and platinum.
During Mr. Tsvangirai’s visit to the White House, reporters asked the Prime Minister of Pres. Mugabe should retire and he responded, “At the age of 85, I think one needs to retire.”