For eight uniterrupted years, since early 1999, the Zimbabwean economy has been in recession; in this time it has shrunk by half, and the former model African economy is merely a shadow of its previous self. In pure economic terms, Zimbabwe is one of, if not the worst performing economy in the world. With inflation expected to reach almost five thousand percent by the end of the year, wages are being quadrupled with still no effect. Living standards have fallen dramatically over the last decade, along with any form of public spending, resulting in almost non-existent public services. The Zimbabwean dollar has been set at a ridiculously high price by the government, meaning that foreign exchange to buy crucial imported goods such as fertilizer, has effectively dried up. This high exchange rate has led to a flourishing black market, where Zimbabwean dollars still only fetch five to ten percent of their official value.

The actions of the government have done little to alleviate the problems faced in the country. Money is being printed as fast as the presses allow, leading to hyperinflation spiralling out of control. Public workers recently received wage rises of three hundred percent; however, in the time taken to reach this decision, inflation rose by more than five hundred percent. The nation's teachers are planning to stage a stike, and doctors and nurses have been on strike for the majority of the past year. There have even been reports that parts of the military are on the brink of rioting, as most salaries in the army are close to or beneath the poverty line. Pay increases have so utterly failed to keep up with inflation, that some Harare workers complain that bus fares to and from work consume their entire salaries.

The Central Bank's response to this soaring hyperinflation has been to declare inflation illegal. Anyone who raises prices or wages will be arrested and punished accordingly. This action has been widely condemned by economists around the world, due to the rapid growth in the black market that has occured. Many stores, unable to make a profit at goverment-fixed prices, now deal in foreign currencies, or even without money altogether, simply trading goods with consumers.

Basic services are now failing daily. A breakdown in water treatment in April led to an outbreak of cholera in the capital, Harare. In many areas of the country, eletricity is only supplied four days a week. In Marondera, a regional capital in the east of the country, all public services were cut, after the city ran out of money to fix broken equipment.

This rapid economic descent has led to serious political problems for President Mugabe, head of the ruling ZANU PF party. The eighty-two year old Mugabe has led Zimbabwe for almost twenty-seven years, and murmurs of dissent from amongst his own party are starting to be heard. Last December, many of his party members balked at supporting a constitutional amendment that would have extended his term of office by two years, to 2010. This refusal to back the President has exposed a fissure in the party between the hard-line Mugabe supporters, and those who feel that he has brought their country to the brink of collapse. Many political analysts in Southern Africa predict an economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe within the next year, as the ZANU PF argue over the future of the country, whilst the danger posed by an uprising of the military increases.

The international response to Zimbabwe's economic position is also changing. The International Monetary Fund has recently cut funding to the country, citing 'a lack of cooperation', after Zimbabwean authorities failed to undertake the actions recommended by the IMF, as well as 'continued arrears with minimal payments'. This Board has urged the authorities to commence a comprehensive stabilisation package, liberalisation of prices and exchange rates, public enterprise schemes and strengthened property rights.

A report by the International Crisis Group has voiced concerns that the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe could destabilise the whole region. The report said that whilst many other countries within Southern Africa were continuing with social, economic and political cooperation, 'Zimbabwe is the great uncertainty that could drag the region down with it'. The ICG called for a joint effort by the USA and South Africa, the regional powerhouse, to encourage genuine democracy, by the implementation of sanctions, and with promises of a resumption of international aid to use as an incentive. There are also calls for a commencement of talks between the ZANU PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, with the aim of constitutional framework, and even a power-sharing agreement.

However, all this talk of change means little to the Zimbabweans themselves, many of whom now cannot obtain even the most basic necessities, clean water and food, and whose life expectancy has reached roughly thirty-five years. This former model of an expanding African economy is fast turning into one of the great disaster stories of the twenty-first century.