Not suitable for fragile economy- Zimbabwe workers say after rejecting 97% salary increase

In a latest twist, Zimbabwe civil servants have refused a 97% pay rise after noting that the new salary structure does not take their fragile economy status into consideration.

This was according to the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Workers union, Cecilia Alexander.

Cecilia's words: "It does not speak to the current economic climate as it does not take into consideration factors such as inflation."

For a while now, the southern African country suffered from hyperinflation which easily depleted the salaries of the workers employed by the Government.

Annual inflation was estimated at 481.05% in November 2019 although government says only the monthly inflation at 17.5% is a true reflection of price increases.

As a counter offer, workers requested that their salaries be indexed to the US dollar as well.

"We still stand by our position that our salaries should be indexed to the exchange rate," Cecilia added.

The Zimbabwean dollar was introduced in 1980 to directly replace the Rhodesian dollar (which had been introduced in 1970) at par (1:1), at a similar value to the US dollar. Over time, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe reduced the Zimbabwe dollar to one of the lowest valued currency units in the world.