Russia-Ukraine war is hurting Zimbabwe’s struggling economy

The war’s ripple effects are hitting developing nations like Zimbabwe hard as supplies of fuel, food are disrupted

Phillip Kambamura, 32, could not believe that he had just refuelled his taxi for $1.67 per litre in early March in Mutare, the third-largest city of Zimbabwe, up by 23 cents before the Russia-Ukraine war began.

Kambamura drives his taxi around the 40-kilometre radius of Mutare which is near the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Qazet.az reports that this is the second time that fuel prices have risen in a week with the regulator, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) citing the war in Eastern Europe as the major cause.

While the government has paused its price increases for now, they are still “just exorbitant”, says Kambamura, a father of two who stays in Dangamvura, a high-density suburb in Mutare. At these prices “the taxi business is becoming unprofitable,” he added.