Balancing Rocks

Who makes the best decisions for you? You? Are you sure? When you were young, you most probably had dreams of growing up and becoming successful in your chosen field, but did you always make the decisions that best maximized your chances of achieving that? Let’s say you wanted to grow up to be a doctor, did you always do your biology homework and study hard for all your exams or did you have to rely on threats of being handed detention by your teacher or grounding by your parents? Now going back to the opening sentence, who makes the best decisions for you? Still you? Some of you might argue that with the previous example; you were too young and immature to make optimal decisions for yourself. If you believe this, then may I propose the following question: Do you wish to have a financially secure retirement? If yes, how likely are you to adequately save enough during your working life for your pension if government-enforced social security schemes didn’t exist? The empirical studies o...

As the most devastating economic year since 2008 comes to a close, we recount the highlights, lowlights and the never-to-be-repeated events that took place in our Zimbabwe. Austerity for Prosperity was the fiscal theme song for the year. A polarising song it was – some adored its necessity, while others chastised its reality. However, what is not in contestation is that in 2019, Zimbabweans and government had to find creative and ingenious ways to dance to Mthuli Ncube’s tune and make a dollar stretch further than ever before. After all, no matter how bad the music may sound, no one wants to be the one on the dance-floor with two left feet. The Good: 1:1 became a thing of the past.  While significant financial losses were made across the board when the bond note and USD parity became no more, significant losses were going to continue to be made had the status quo remained. In February 2019, almost 2 years after its birth, the bond note was finally given its rea...

It has now been just over one year since controversial Oxford Professor of Economics Mthuli Ncube took over the reins at Zimbabwe's Ministry of Finance. His plan for a nation desperately in need of answers was the ‘Transitional Stabilisation Programme’ whose mantra is ‘Austerity for Prosperity’. Eight Months into the blueprint and the results so far can optimistically be described as mixed but more accurately as disappointing. The twin deficits bedevilling  the current account and budget have largely disappeared, but so have electricity, basic commodities, fuel and a living wage for the majority of Zimbabweans. Theory and reality are somewhat divorced from one another. What’s going on? Is the first African to lecture at the prestigious London School of Economics being too academic with people’s livelihoods?  Would you inject a patient in a hospital's Intensive Care Unit with a vaccine? Probably not. The ordinary Zimbabwean was already struggling to ma...