Zimbabwe seeks economic rescue from southern neighbours

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Zimbabwe has issued a plea to southern African countries to help it out of its economic crisis, according to South AfricaÔÇÖs finance minister.   Trevor Manuel told South African radio that Zimbabwe had asked for $2 billion, half of which was to be used for emergencies in education, health and municipal services. The other half would be used to kick-start the retail and other sectors.   Aid to Zimbabwe is top of the agenda at a meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) finance ministers today.   As the two-day summit began in Cape Town, however, concern was expressed as to whether South Africa could afford to help, having itself recently lost thousands of jobs, particularly in the mining, clothing and motor car industry.   Reliance on commodity exports has severely hit southern Africa's economies as demand for raw materials plunges in the global financial downturn.   Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said last week it would cost as much as $5 billion to fix Zimbabwe's economy.   The new administration urgently needs to tackle an economic meltdown that has led to the world's highest inflation, food shortages and a cholera epidemic, but Western powers have made it clear that will be available only after the new power-sharing government shows evidence of effective and inclusive governance.     *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *