Zimbabwe's money man plans to keep on printing
Central bank chief Gideon Gono makes no apology for continuing to crank out money, which economists say fuels hyperinflation. Critics call him a megalomaniac with a vise-like grip on the economy.
Reporting from Harare, Zimbabwe — Gideon Gono prints money, lots and lots of money that's worth next to nothing. Depending on whom you talk to, the architect of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation is a megalomaniac, a workaholic, a thief -- or the country's savior.
Zimbabwe's central bank chief seems to have a finger in every government ministry. No project goes ahead without his approval. No underling approaches without fear and trembling.
He makes no apologies for his furious money-printing, as the country, mired in disease and hunger, inflation beyond calculation and political crisis, keeps on spiraling downward. Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures, he says.
The 49-year-old former tea boy, target of Western economic sanctions and confidant of President Robert Mugabe has made more enemies in the ruling ZANU-PF party than any other senior member. And some people think he may be its weak link. But for now, it's his obsession with photo ops and his autocratic control over government affairs that dominate.
One pro-ZANU-PF banker shudders while recalling Gono's summons of top banking officials to his office in early December. It was a made-for-television ambush. As the cameras rolled, Gono berated the bankers for releasing new bank notes a day before their launch.
They weren't even his employees, but he fired them anyway. On television. But Gono wasn't done with them. The lobby was full of police waiting to arrest them when their elevator opened on the ground floor.
"I had to sleep on the floor in the cell," the banker said, deeply shaken, two days after his release on bail. "I've never slept on the floor in my life. There was water dripping everywhere." He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his trial.
As pressure on Gono has grown with the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, he has blamed banks, the stock exchange, black market currency dealers and insurance companies. As well as firing the bankers, he blacklisted 20 investment companies and froze their accounts.
As a survival tactic, it has worked. Despite the highest inflation rate on Earth, estimated by independent economists in at least quadrillions of percents, Mugabe recently reappointed Gono for another five-year term. It sparked as much outrage in the ZANU-PF as it did in the opposition.
"Not only is he destroying the country, he is destroying the party," growled one senior ZANU-PF official.
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