Zimbabwe says public account stood at $217 last week

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

30 January 2013 Last updated at 13:17 GMT

Zimbabwe says public account stood at 217 last week

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that the country only had $217 (£138) left in its public account last week after paying civil servants.

However, he said that the following day some $30m of revenue had been paid in.

Mr Biti told the BBC he made the revelation in order to emphasise that the government was unable to finance elections, not that it was insolvent.

Polls are due this year, with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF fighting Mr Biti's Movement for Democratic Change.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21257765

[bluedigger]

1. If you can't afford to finance elections, quit.

Let the other guys have a go.

[intaglio]

2. Which leaves only one question

how much is in Mr Mugabe's private bank accounts.

Reports from 2011 put his personal wealth between $1 billion and $3 billion plus the Daily Mail reports that he has an interest in a diamond mine licensed to the Chinese with an estimated value of $800 billion