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Zimbabwe mulls Z$100b minimum wage

Harare, Zimbabwe - A senior government official in Zimbabwe Tuesday suggested a monthly minimum wage of Z$100 billion (Z$7.5 billion=US$1), saying more and more workers had been driven into poverty by hyperinflation and other economic hardships.

The country is going through its worst economic crisis in history, with inflation at more than 300,000 percent, 80 percent unemployment and widespread shortages of food and other basic essentials.

National Incomes and Pricing Commission chairman Godwills Masimirembwa said current monthly minimum wages of an average Z$6 billion were grossly insufficient to meet even basic living expenses for workers.

"The current situation for workers needs urgent intervention. It is disheartening to note that some employers are still awarding salaries not enough to meet some basic food needs," he said.

He said frequent inflation-led price hikes for food and other essential goods and services often left employees impoverished.

"There is need to adjust salaries and wages regularly, not on a quarterly basis, to cushion employees from the current price hikes," he said.

On Monday, the country's consumer watchdog, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, said a family of six now needed Z$25 billion a month to survive - catering only for basics.