ZIMBABWE PAYS WORKERS IN USD
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe's new government took its first step towards rebuilding the shattered nation Wednesday, honouring a pledge to civil servants by paying them in US dollars to counter the impact of hyperinflation.
"We will pay every civil servant in foreign currency," Finance Minister Tendai Biti told a news conference in Harare.
The armed forces had been paid on Tuesday, he said.
He did not say how Zimbabwe, which is grappling with the effects of the world's highest rate of inflation, will source the forex.
Biti, the number two of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which joined a national unity government last week, said the move was an attempt to pay the country's 130,000 civil servants a decent wage.
Since last year, civil servants such as teachers, nurses and doctors have downed tools demanding that they paid in hard currency.
"We have to get Zimbabwe working again; getting teachers to school is part of efforts to get Zimbabwe to work again, having examination papers being marked is part of having Zimbabwe work again," Biti said.
Soldiers were paid a 100 dollar (79 euros) allowance -- worth more than current salaries -- this week and payments to workers in other public sectors in the crisis-hit country will follow.
"Today it's the teachers and the rest tomorrow," Biti said, with the new government having to "juggle" resources to make the payments.
Zimbabwe's political and economic crises have reduced the local currency Zimdollar, once on a par with the British pound, to almost nothing, forcing Zimbabweans to pay trillions of local dollars just for a loaf of bread.
The central bank earlier this month knocked 12 zeros off the local currency -- reducing one trillion dollars to one dollar -- in an effort to get the unit back on track to normality.
Last week Wednesday, shortly after his inauguration as prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai announced that civil servants would be paid in foreign currency and appealed for them to return to work.
Tsvangirai explained that the foreign currency payment will enable people to go to work, to feed their families and to survive.
"We will pay every civil servant in foreign currency," Finance Minister Tendai Biti told a news conference in Harare.
The armed forces had been paid on Tuesday, he said.
He did not say how Zimbabwe, which is grappling with the effects of the world's highest rate of inflation, will source the forex.
Biti, the number two of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which joined a national unity government last week, said the move was an attempt to pay the country's 130,000 civil servants a decent wage.
Since last year, civil servants such as teachers, nurses and doctors have downed tools demanding that they paid in hard currency.
"We have to get Zimbabwe working again; getting teachers to school is part of efforts to get Zimbabwe to work again, having examination papers being marked is part of having Zimbabwe work again," Biti said.
Soldiers were paid a 100 dollar (79 euros) allowance -- worth more than current salaries -- this week and payments to workers in other public sectors in the crisis-hit country will follow.
"Today it's the teachers and the rest tomorrow," Biti said, with the new government having to "juggle" resources to make the payments.
Zimbabwe's political and economic crises have reduced the local currency Zimdollar, once on a par with the British pound, to almost nothing, forcing Zimbabweans to pay trillions of local dollars just for a loaf of bread.
The central bank earlier this month knocked 12 zeros off the local currency -- reducing one trillion dollars to one dollar -- in an effort to get the unit back on track to normality.
Last week Wednesday, shortly after his inauguration as prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai announced that civil servants would be paid in foreign currency and appealed for them to return to work.
Tsvangirai explained that the foreign currency payment will enable people to go to work, to feed their families and to survive.
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