Biti’s lies and exaggerations

CLAIM: Our infant mortality rates are now 102 out of a thousand.

VERDICT: UNTRUE

UNICEF defines infant mortality as the probability of a child dying between birth and one year of age, expressed per 1 000 live births.

According to the latest available UNICEF data, Zimbabwe’s infant mortality rate was 38.4 deaths for every 1 000 live births, the lowest it has been since 1970.

Zimstat’s 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey puts the country’s infant mortality rate at 53 deaths per 1 000 live births.

CLAIM: There is no economy that has involuntarily dollarised, that has been able to de-dollarise.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

Although economists broadly acknowledge that the process of undoing dollarisation – the use of foreign currencies as a medium of exchange, store of value, or unit of account – is difficult, the IMF says there are a few economies that have achieved this feat.

An IMF staff team that produced a 2015 report on dollarisation in sub-Saharan Africa concedes this difficulty, but lists 11 countries which de-dollarised between 2001 and 2012.

“While many countries have attempted to de-dollarize, only a few have succeeded in these efforts. Among them, Israel, Poland, Bolivia, and Peru provide a good illustration of the comprehensive policy package needed to reduce financial dollarization,” the staff team reported.

“Out of 194 countries for which data are available, 42 were initially dollarized (of which nine in sub-Saharan Africa); out of these, 11 countries were successful and de-dollarized; and the remaining 31 countries were unsuccessful and remained dollarized.”

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