US embassy cable - 03HARARE2122

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2008 
TAGS: PREL, PINR, ZI, SF, Zimbabwe South African Relations 
SUBJECT: ENGAGING SOUTH AFRICANS ON ZIMBABWE 
 
REF: PRETORIA 5568 
 
Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D 
 
1.(C)  Embassy Harare would also like to see the study 
proposed reftel on the cost of Zimbabwe's economic implosion 
on South Africa and the region and the growth lost to the 
region by Zimbabwe's failure to grow at even a modest rate. 
Some recent numbers our economic section has run show a 
decline in GDP of 31 per cent since 2000 and about 40 per 
cent since 1997 to USD 3.5 billion.  Zimbabwe's current GDP 
per capita is now USD292,  roughly equivalent to that of 
Mozambique and less than Zambia's USD340, numbers which shock 
citizens of all three countries. Many Zimbabwean workers earn 
80 per cent less in real terms than they did in the 1990's. 
Zimbabwe has gone from a trade surplus of USD350 million in 
2000 to a projected USD450 million deficit this year, a net 
loss of USD800 million. Zimbabwe's import capacity has 
declined by about one third to 1.8 billion USD this year, a 
decline of almost a billion dollars since 1997, representing 
lost exports to its principal trading partners, including 
South Africa. 
SULLIVAN