Zimbabwean poverty benchmark shoots up

from Earthtimes

Harare - Zimbabwe's Poverty Datum Line (PDL) has shot up to 12 million Zimbabwe dollars per month, around three times an average teacher's salary, the official Central Statistical Office (CSO) reported. An average family of five needed 12 million dollars in August up from just over eight million in June if it was not to be classified as poor, the CSO said.

The figure is way above the average monthly salary for many Zimbabwean teachers, police constables, soldiers and shop floor workers, who often earn less than four million Zimbabwe dollars a month.

That salary now barely matches the Food Poverty Line and puts the wage-earners in the category of very poor, according to the CSO figures.

The August 2007 Food Poverty Line for an average of five persons in Zimbabwe stood at 4,528,000 dollars, a statement read.

An individual whose total expenditure does not exceed the Food Poverty Line is deemed to be very poor.

Although four million dollars equates to around 133 US dollars at the government-set rate of exchange, it represents only 13 US dollars on the widely-used parallel market for hard currency, where the value of the Zimbabwean dollar has recently plummeted.

Life is getting harder for many Zimbabweans who struggle to survive amid a dire cocktail of food, power, water and drug shortages.

Long-time leader President Robert Mugabe alleges that his country's worst-ever economic crisis is caused by Western sanctions and sabotage by white-controlled industry.

But his critics point to a catalogue of controversial political decisions, including a seven-year programme of white land seizures that has slashed agricultural production as well as foreign investment and tourist confidence.

To make matters worse, many food items have disappeared from shop shelves following a state-ordered price slash in late June. Some items like bread and margarine have reappeared on the black market at prices six or seven times above those set by the government.