New to the blogging world and trying to fit it in my first entry between checking the Z$20,196,000,000 in consular fees we have taken today and persuading a local hotel to increase the £67,000 discount given to some visiting UK officials on their £68,000 hotel bill. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has an artificially high rate of exchange and hotels have to charge foreigners at this rate making even a round of beers over £1,000. Zimbabwe's problems are well documented but for many the reality of living in a hyper inflationary environment in a failing state is beyond imagination - you have to make sure you've been to the toilet before you leave for work in case there is no water at the office but if you do get caught short it's better vfm to use a bank note rather than newspaper for toilet roll - just don't tell anyone you're doing it as you may be accused of defacing a note. The difficulty in getting cash here means it can be difficult for people to get sufficient Zim dollars so we have had to find imaginative ways of helping people to meet our fees (which are set by Parliament). This includes allowing people to pay for the passports we issue here via the FCO in the UK or at any of our 200 posts worldwide - we even had one paid for as far away as the Dutch Antilles - an exception made only for Brits in Zimbabwe living through the historic rates of inflation we are experiencing here.
Posted at 10:12 20 March 2008 by Sarah Mannell | Comments[0]
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