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Economic issues
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted of the Weekly Media Update 2004-20
Monday May 17^th – Sunday May 23^rd 2004

As Zimbabweans were witnessing a fresh bout of price rises, the government media used news of a decline in inflation by 78 percent (to 505%) to drown out the need to address the inflationary effects of the price increases. While they credited the rein on inflation to the monetary policies of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, the government media refused to temper this success with any analysis of the real economic situation indicated by the new spiral in prices.

For example, The Herald (17/5), unquestioningly echoed a faceless analyst who ambitiously projected that "year-on-year inflation rate would decline to 475% this month…and 175% in November". No credible explanation was provided to justify this projection except suggestions that "improved inflows of the US dollar and other hard currencies" would continue to have a positive bearing on inflation.

Radio Zimbabwe (17/5, 8pm) quoted economic analyst Jonathan Kadzura echoing similar views, saying inflation would continue to fall because "there is less money on the market… We no longer have that disease because of fiscal discipline that has been implemented by the RBZ. This is causing a decrease in prices. Inflation will further decline in the next few days because there would be more food on the market and more products from factories…"

This contrasted sharply with private media reports, which predicted an upward trend in the inflation rate (Studio 7, 17/5; The Daily Mirror, 18/5; Financial Gazette, 20/5; and The Tribune, 21/5).

For example, The Daily Mirror quoted named economic analysts attributing an imminent rise in inflation to the new exchange rate, which has since pushed up the prices of goods and services.

Gordon Moyo was quoted on Studio 7 noting that a recent 50 percent salary hike for civil servants and the central bank’s directive to commercial banks to allow clients to withdraw any amount of cash would also contribute to a rise in inflation.

In addition, while the government media claimed that the manufacturing sector was expected to reduce prices, The Tribune quoted named economic analysts from the Open Learning Centre as saying the sector was likely to nosedive due to consumers’ shrinking disposable incomes and high electricity bills.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Independent reported (21/5) that President Mugabe appeared to be undermining Gono’s efforts to re-engage international monetary agencies to help bail Zimbabwe out of its foreign currency squeeze. The paper reported Mugabe telling a Kenyan newspaper that Zimbabwe did not need the intervention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Independent questioned this apparent contradiction in policy between Gono and Mugabe and asked whether the President’s utterances, which "continue to throw spanners in the works", were personal or represented government policy.

The government media did not address the matter. Rather, their public relations crusade to protect Governor Gono took on a personal perspective as demonstrated by the way The Herald (20/5) seemed to set the agenda on who should and should not be investigated by the police.

Responding to a report in The Sunday Times of South Africa alleging that Gono may have played a part in the unlawful withdrawal of foreign currency by the incarcerated Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri from the Jewel Bank when Gono was still the chief executive there, The Herald used unnamed "highly placed sources involved in the case" to exonerate him from any wrongdoing.

The faceless sources claimed that a "thorough" investigation was done before Kuruneri’s arrest and "it was found beyond reasonable doubt that the statement made by Dr Gono during the investigations was credible and useful". Why was there no official comment from the police on such an important issue? The paper could only offer unnamed commentators speculating about red herrings…

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