Zimbabwe can't afford to issue new currency

jstone posted this a few months ago.
Zimbabwe can't afford to issue new currency
When I followed the link, I got

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The requested document was not found on this server.
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Web Server at theindependent.co.zw

Apparently, no longer news (ahem).

But I found the fact online at
http://zimdaily.com/news2/article.php/20060410080526316
the article says:

Govt Fails To Raise Cash To Print Money
Tuesday, April 11 2006 @ 12:05 AM BST
Contributed by: correspondent
The introduction of the $10 000 note planned for June could be
jeorpadised following revelations that government is failing to raise
six million Euros to pay the German printing firm that will produce the
notes. According to government sources, the German firm Giesecke &
Devrient has asked for the six million Euro as down-payment to print
the notes. The total printing cost is estimated to cost about 30
million Euros.

Zimdaily heard the Zimbabwean government last month engaged Giesecke &
Devrient to print the new $10 000 note, the highest denomination, as a
measure to deal with the current crisis. The government says it also
intends to phase out of circulation the current $500 note, which is too
expensive to print, and replace it with a new one. The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) has already introduced bearer cheques as it battles to
deal with the crisis that has crippled operations in commerce and
industry.

Official sources told Zimdaily that commercial banks enlisted by the
RBZ to hunt for the foreign currency in United States dollars to pay
the German firm had only so far raised US$4 million. "They have failed
to raise that money. They have only raised US$4 million against US$6
million," said a source. Giesecke & Devrient are a respected money
printer and also a leading supplier of banknote paper and banknote ink.

Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa referred Zimdaily to his permanent
secretary and the Reserve Bank governor when reached for comment.

Analysts said the government continued to face difficulties to raise
hard currency. The foreign currency market has remained tight, with
inflows for March amounting to a meagre US$25,3 million compared to
outflows of US$27,7 million. The analysts said most of the foreign
currency proceeds were going towards meeting Zimbabwe's huge import
bill that includes fuel, electricity, salaries for embassy staff and
food imports to mitigate starvation affecting up to six million people.
"Energy needs have not been satisfied yet and this continues to have a
bearing on the limited currency circulating in the official market,"
said one analyst. Money market sources said government's raid on the
parallel market for the American greenback to pay the German firm was
behind the firming of the US dollar against the local currency.
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Reality is not to be cheated. A is A: that which is, is.

I went out on the web for this because of Earth Day, interestingly
enough. I found that my "ecological footprint" is six times of the
"average" person of Earth and that if everyone were like me, we would
need six Earths to sustain us. (And I am a "greenie" in my own mind:
we belong to food coops and I drive a 10-year old Toyota less than 10
miles to work, after all. I shop organic, natural, and local.) The
thing is, though, you cannot have consumption without production. My
point of view is not that we would need six more Earths, but that
everyone else needs to shed six time as much government planning.

American consume 10 times more per capita because we
PRODUCE ten times more per capita.

Mike
"Laissez faire"