Cheer Up; You’re Still Richer than Zimbabwe
Quick, pull up your bank account and check it.
Was the total balance greater than $217?
Congratulations. You’re doing better than Zimbabwe this week:
AFTER paying public workers’ salaries last week, the balance in cash-strapped Zimbabwe’s government public account stood at just $217, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Tuesday.
“Last week, when we paid civil servants there was $217 (left) in government coffers,” Mr Biti told journalists in the capital Harare, claiming some of them had healthier bank balances than the state.
“The government finances are in a paralysis state at the present moment. We are failing to meet our targets.”
To make the story even more uncomfortable, that’s actually something of an improvement on the previous situation — the $217 is at least in U.S. dollars, which the government switched to after a decade of hyperinflation had them issuing trillion-dollar notes in their own currency as recently as 2009.
But on the bright side, they made payroll. $217 is not a negative. So there’s always that.
Feeling better about your job yet?
I think I’m feeling worse. My balance isn’t even in the triple digits.
Time to start using the phrase “poorer than Zimbabwe” in discussions of personal finances, then!
Universal application – love it!