Zimbabwe’s monetary authorities have promised that higher denominations of the bond note including a $50 note will be coming “soon.” Well, we will believe it when we see it. Since 2006 we have been struggling with cash shortages having to buy cash on the black market-something unheard-of world over.

Despite all promises to the contrary by our esteemed Finance Minister that prices are going to start coming down soon we are experiencing something different. At the best of times, prices continue to creep up, in some sectors we are seeing mad jumps in prices.

On the other hand since 2016 we have continued to have cash shortages. First it was because we were using US dollars. Now the government claims that if it prints money there will be runaway inflation.

The result has been that ordinary Zimbabweans have been forced to line up at banks and stay the night as they patiently wait to get their paltry weekly allocations of $300. Only the lucky few ever get this amount, the rest get far less than this.

Meanwhile, the highest bond note denomination is not even enough to get you a loaf of bread. You need three of those notes on the black market and four in the formal market to get bread. Yes, bread costs more on the formal market again, thanks to cash shortages.