LOL, look at the Herald trying to make out like business is going well in Zim. What a joke, especially when talking about market capitalization of Z$143,000,000,000,000 which today is just enough to buy a house in London.

mindpower, yet again you demonstrate undeniable ignorance of fundamental economics and financial market. As the late, great brother Bob used to sing, you're "playing smart but not being clever".

Neither the Herald, Mugabe nor Zanu PF are the enginners behind the ZSE being the top performing stock exchange in the world for two years in a row. That's simply the result of global market forces and opportunism. There's no denying that.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/zimbabwe-stock-exchange/2007/04/12/

It's nothing to do with "global market forces"! Money is pouring into ZSE as a means of fighting inflation. Does a high performing ZSE indicate business is going well? No, in fact in the current situation it is exactly the opposite.

To quote the article you posted:

"Our Zimbabwe example, though extreme, demonstrates how changes in stock prices can be driven by monetary conditions, and not changes in GDP. New money gets spent or invested. In Zimbabwe's case, because there are no alternatives, it is stocks that are benefiting."

Zim GDP has been shrinking for 7 years. That's the truth of the Zim economy, not the false impression given by ZSE.

The fact remains that ZSE has been top performing stock exchange in the world for two years in a row. The reasons behind its remarkable performance are neither here nor there to international investors who are not renowned for investing in hype.

Big numbers does not equate to big business when you talk of ZSE.

"TA Holdings put on $85 million to $305 million after its AGM last week where the group said pretax profit for the first quarter was up 112 000 percent but down 58 percent in US dollar terms."

A perfect example. What good is 112,000% performance when the REAL indicator is a drop of nearly 60% in HARD currency?

Selector obviously has no ecomomic knowledge or any idea of how proper marktes work. The ZSE is in a bubble because the traders (not investors) have nowhere else to put their money. Market markets are dead, exposure to foreign bourses is non-existent, property market is in the doldrums. Can you even value zimbabwean shares? you will need a calculator with an exceptionally large screen and of course try and adjust the figures for inflation first. These huge numbers will come crushing down. Buy gold instead maybe oil - if you can find them.

Shame on you, Shingifc, for exposing yourself as economically illiterate, particularly in the face of undeniable and indisputable facts.

High risks result in high gains and the ZSE has much of both. You and other contributors trying to play down the globally accepted, sterling and number one performance of the ZSE over the last two years end up revealing your intent, even in the face of facts, to deny everything about the realities of the Zimbabwe situation. Take a bow;

http://zimbabwe-news.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

Gains in Z$ are meaningless.

Maybe we could just buy the whole Zimbabwean economy... cant be worth too much more than say £100?