Why Zimbabwe and Greece have nothing in common

by Justice Zhou

Zimbabwe and Greece have in recent years attracted heated global debate and offered typical case studies due to their on-going economic problems.

Some people have gone as far as suggesting that the two countries have similar problems. Those who say they have something in common are missing the point, and here is why:

Zimbabwe is facing problems that are a result of bad governance, bad policies and international isolation. In other words, the crisis in Zimbabwe is deliberate and can be fixed when those inflicting it are no longer in political power.

Nothing will stop Zimbabwe rising from the ashes if a proper leadership is elected in future and abides by proper principles and procedures of running a country and economy.

Unlike Greece, the Zimbabwe government has nowhere to borrow money from at the moment to balance its fiscal books.

The IMF and other international creditors are reluctant to lend to the southern African country because they believe it doesn’t have the ability to repay loans.

Even its better-off neighbouring states haven’t had any intentions of pouring substantial amounts of loans they know will only end up in a bottomless pit.

So there is no way Zimbabwe would become as indebted as Greece if nobody is lending it more money it obviously would fail to return.

On the other hand, Greece is reeling from a structural problem that isn’t necessarily a deliberate political infliction.

Greece has already received a staggering €240bn worth of bailout funds that, quite frankly, have hardly extricated the country from its mess as earlier intended.

Greece has a duly-elected government, it isn’t subject of international isolation.If there are any investors avoiding the country, it would be for reasons other than bad governance, not upholding the rule of law and election-rigging.

Every government has a responsibility to see to it that it lives within its means, thereby avoid crippling insolvency which might lead to dire economic consequences.

Following years of unchecked government spending, Greece’s sovereign debt has soared. When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the Eurozone state was caught unawares and has since struggled to emerge from the crisis.

In some respects, Greece has a stubborn debt crisis that nobody has ever come up with a tangible solution to although there is political will to deal with it. Despite loads of generous cash being funnelled into that country’s coffers, there doesn’t seem to be a let up to its debt conundrum.

But that doesn’t make Greece’s problems interminable, nor do Zimbabwe’s woes make it a hopeless economic wasteland as some would mistakenly have the world believe.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to downplay the calamity that Zimbabwe is currently mired in. My point is that we have to be realistic when making comparisons.

The more careful we are when dealing with facts, the more we are likely to keep people well-informed about what is really going on in this world.

While the origin of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is bad politics, bad governance and self-inflicted international isolation, these can easily go away if the country overcomes its leadership problems.

Any attempts to compare the economic metrics of a country in the developed world with those in a developing country would sound rather unfair, if not alarmist.

Well, it’s true the government of Robert Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe beyond denial. At the same time, that doesn’t mean its economic crisis cannot be overcome.

Zimbabwe has ample natural and skilled human resources and isn’t beyond repair. The bottom-line is it just can’t easily be compared with Greece as the nature, origin and possible solutions to their problems are completely different.