Zimbabwe

Type of Government: Parliamentary Democracy

Independence: 1980

Head of State: Executive President Robert Gabriel Mugabe (since 1980)

2007/2008 UN Development Index ranking (out of 177 countries): 151

2007 TI Corruption Perception Index (out of 179): 150

Political Development: Robert Mugabe, the nation’s first prime minister, has been the country’s only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country’s political system since independence.  His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities.  Ignoring international condemnation, Mugabe rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection.  Opposition and labor strikes in 2003 were unsuccessful in pressuring Mugabe to retire early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime opponents.  The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s.  In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition, according to UN estimates. ZANU-PF announced in December 2006 that they would seek to extend Mugabe’s term in office until 2010.

Adult HIV Rate: 24.6%

Life Expectancy: 39.5

GDP: $3.156 billion

Inflation: 2,000% + (estimated)

Poverty: 68%

Petroleum: N/A

Leading Export Partner: Sudan (24.9%)

Economic Note: The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves.  The government’s land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products.  Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government’s arrears on past loans, which it began repaying in 2005.  The economic situation is very bleak.