Factories grind to a halt as Zimbabwe’s economy implodes

HARARE: Gary Green is no stranger to adversity. The burly Zimbabwean has survived a brain tumour and rebuffed the seizure of his machinery business by people who claimed he was a foreigner and demanded he hand over control.

Now even Green’s resolve will be tested as an imploding economy, rampant inflation, and Zimbabwe’s crippling shortage of cash and electricity push his Bulawayo-based foundry, Anolle Castings and Engineering, to the brink. The nation’s second-biggest town, once the southern African nation’s industrial hub, has been hit hard as factories have either shut down or left.