Zimbabwe's Government Says It's Broke

Shocker

Zimbabwe's finance ministry said it has just $217 left in its accounts after paying the nation's civil servants and government employees earlier this month.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the monthly salaries cleared out government earnings and tax revenues in January when he made an appeal Tuesday for foreign donors to help raise some $200 million for a constitutional referendum and elections later this year.

But financial experts said Wednesday that Biti, known for his exaggerated rhetoric in the troubled economy, failed to mention quick returns from income tax, social security payments and increased taxable spending in shops and stores.

Those daily revenues immediately replenish the country's battered coffers, experts say. Nationwide highway toll gates also separately bring in thousands of dollars a day.

Comments

[T o n i]

It's all the fault of Ian Smith, racism, austerity, John Boehner and libertarians who hate the poor and love the KKKorporashuns.

[John Galt]

Don't fret none Zimbabwe homeboy Obama will bail you out.

[An0nB0t]

How could they be broke when they've been printing up 100 trillion denominated bills for so long? With all of that aggregate demand, the animal spirits should have been satiated long ago.

In all seriousness, this little guy was my first venture into the world of collecting hyperinflated currency. I should have a couple of debased denarii coming in this week, which seems particularly fitting timing given the likelihood of a double-dip following today's news.