15th February, 2004

Diaspora: Repression by the government and an ongoing economic crisis have caused an exodus from the troubled nation

Harare - Verging on one-fourth of the Zimbabwean population - nearly 3.4 million people - are living abroad, many of them having fled violent state repression and the nation's deepening economic crisis. The figures were compiled by a central bank advisory board formed to explore ways of getting "Zimbabweans in the Diaspora" to send hard currency home, board member Erich Bloch said Friday. Many Zimbabweans support the families they left behind but usually send money through black-market currency dealers who pay out in local currency and keep the hard cash offshore. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono in December said he was launching a program to try to channel that hard currency through state coffers. Bloch said the advisory board found there were 1.1 million Zimbabweans working in Britain, the former colonial power. Of those, some 800,000 were illegal immigrants. More than 1.2 million were working in neighboring South Africa and at least 100,000 were in Australia. The rest were in Canada and scattered throughout Europe, the US, southern Africa and other parts of the world. Bloch, an independent economist and deputy president of the Zimbabwe Institute of Chartered Accountants, heads the drive to persuade Zimbabweans to repatriate their money legally. He said it was estimated that up to US$400 million could be paid annually into the central bank for onward payment in local currency to families in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe, suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, is facing acute hard currency shortages. Bloch said a range of incentives for Zimbabweans abroad was being considered. "The exchange rate will have to be close to what they are getting through other channels. They have to be satisfied there is no risk as there would be in the illegal market and that their families will be very promptly paid," he said. The US dollar buys about 4,200 Zimbabwe dollars on the black market. The official exchange rate is fixed at 824-1. Assurances were also needed there would be no double taxation and illegal immigrants would be guaranteed confidentiality. Provisional results of a national census last year put the country's population at 11.5 million but acknowledged large numbers left the country, many to seek jobs, and others may not have been counted. Zimbabwe's population is generally accepted to be 12.5 million. As many as 1 million people may not have been counted in the census after disruptions in the economy and the seizure of white-owned farms forced them to move from their traditional homes.

The official results of the census are to be released later this year. As well as shortages of hard currency, Zimbabwe is facing acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicine and other essential imports.