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WFP Emergency Report No. 44 of 2005
World Food Programme (WFP)
October 28, 2005

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKEE-6HLQED?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=zwe

Zimbabwe
(a) The food security situation in Zimbabwe is of growing concern. Vulnerability assumptions were originally made in May on the basis of maize being available at a price of ZWD1,300 per kilogram. However the current price of maize in Harare is already six times higher. In the southeastern city of Masvingo, the price of maize has grown by over 4 percent and now stands at ZWD11,000 per kilogram, an increase of over 700 percent compared to the same time in 2004.

(b) In the eastern city of Mutare, maize has not been available for the past three weeks. Over half a million tons of maize are reliably reported to have been exported from South Africa to Zimbabwe in the past six months. While the state-controlled Grain Marketing Board (GMB) is releasing maize in centres such as Harare and Bulawayo, the current location of the majority of that maize is unknown, nor is there any indication as to when it will be made available to the population.

(c) The Reserve Bank Governor announced a new monetary policy on 20 October that eliminated the foreign exchange auction system, which has been in place since January
2004. This follows months with a wide disparity between the official and parallel exchange rates. The new policy allows exporters to retain 70 percent of their proceeds in foreign currency.

(d) UNAIDS has confirmed that the HIV prevalence rate in the country is on a downward Emergency Report 2005-44

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