From The Economist

The potholes on Melbourne Road in Southerton, an industrial district of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, are bone-jarring. A van outside the J. Lyons factory, a surviving outpost of a once-grand British company, is being loaded with jars of processed food. Otherwise the street is quiet. The offices next door have whitewashed windows; the gates of the factory opposite are firmly shut. The empty buildings belong to Reckitt Benckiser, an Anglo-Dutch company whose brands, including Dettol disinfectant and Nugget shoe polish, span 60 countries—but no longer Zimbabwe. The Reckitt factory there closed before Christmas and has not reopened. Many other local firms have done the same.

The closures are just one sign that the economic recovery is stalling. This began in 2009 when the worthless Zimbabwe dollar was replaced by a multi-currency system based largely on the American dollar. But in the run-up to Christmas some banks were forced to put limits on cash withdrawals. SABMiller says lager sales tumbled by 25 percent in the year to the fourth quarter, as beer-drinkers switched to cheaper brews based on sorghum. Consumers started to feel the pinch in the second half of last year, says Albert Katsande of OK Zimbabwe, a big retailer. Prices are being cut to encourage shoppers to spend more. A country ravaged by hyperinflation, which officially reached 500 trillion per cent in 2008, may soon have deflation.

Read more at The Economist