Our mutual friend

The control freaks of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front seem astonished that their diktats go unheard by the world's stock exchanges. Yet when it comes to their personal pockets, they show resource and ingenuity. The government's muddling of fiscal and monetary policies has resulted in a variety of foreign exchange rates that are used for different transactions (see Feature). Banks are theoretically free to use market forces to establish an exchange rate, which trades well below parallel market rates and is the basis on which government-approved transactions are calculated.

Article Tags:
Gideon Gono, South African, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia), diktats

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