A shaky investment in Zimbabwe

Guardian:

At one end of the stock exchange a man writes numbers on a whiteboard with a blue marker; at the other brokers tap sums into large calculators. Shares are bought and sold in crisp, verbal transactions; the deals noted on ledgers filled with carbon paper. In the corner a man with a laptop, the only computer in the room, keeps a record of the trading.

It resembles a scene from another era, but this is one of the world's best-performing stock markets. In January alone it doubled in value and the bull run is set to continue. Welcome to the surreal world of Zimbabwean economics.

Inside this exchange, on the fourth floor of one of the less dilapidated buildings on Nkwame Nkrumah Avenue, serious profits are being made while outside, businesses are collapsing, driving millions of people into penury.

Zimbabwe has the fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone, with unemployment pushing 80% and inflation a rampant 913%. But amid the meltdown a small minority - some legitimate investors, others crooks - is thriving. "Where some see crisis others see opportunity," said Jonathan Waters, an economist and commentator.

The winners in today's Zimbabwe are an eclectic group of share traders, currency dealers, estate agents, small-time entrepreneurs and cronies of Robert Mugabe's government, which is widely blamed for ruining what was once of Africa's most developed economies.

The stock exchange, comprising 16 broking firms trading in the shares of 75 companies, including Barclays, British American Tobacco and First Mutual, is perhaps the most incongruous success.

...

Put me down as dubious.