Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE, REUTERS) Zim floats grain bills to buy surplus maize

COMMENT - Reuters quips: Zimbabwe has suffered severe grain shortages since 2000, which critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks. So what is causing the present grain surplus? Because the land certainly has not been given back.

Actually the data below from the FAO proves that the economy of Zimbabwe deteriorated since 2002, when the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 came into effect and froze the government's credit lines.

Table 1: Zimbabwe - Key economic indicators, 2000–2007
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 exp
Agricultural GDP growth rate (%) 3.2 -3.9 -22.7 -1 -2.9 -9.5 -4 --
Consumer price inflation; avg (%) 57 75 135 385 381 267 1034 2200a
Trade Deficit in million US$ -295.6 -322.5 18.2 108.3 305.2 387.9 231.3 200b

Time for Reuters to not only get it's facts straight, but to issue an apology for maligning the Zimbabwean government, and failing to report on the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Zim floats grain bills to buy surplus maize
by
26/10/2009 00:00:00

THE Zimbabwe government will this week float $5 million in grain bills to buy surplus maize from farmers, who are expected to sell 400,000 tonnes of their crop to the market, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Monday.

"We have a reasonable harvest from last season, of about 1.2 million tonnes, of which 400,000 tonnes will be the surplus available for the market," Biti told a news conference.

"The Grain Marketing Board expects to purchase an additional 50,000 tonnes. Very soon we will be issuing grain bills to finance the purchase. We are going to start with $5 million (bills) and the first issue will be by the end of this week."

Biti said Zimbabwe would also review a waiver of duty on grain imports, which was put in place to allow imports as the country grappled with acute food shortages.

"We are going to review the waiver...subject to considerations such as the availability of supplies from the local market and the need to build strategic grain reserves," he said.

"There are demands from millers who are saying we should restore duty because imports are killing them."

Zimbabwe has suffered severe grain shortages since 2000, which critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.

- Reuters

Labels: MAIZE, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 7:32 PM