Mugabe insists Zimbabwe not fragile despite plunging economy

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is denying his country is in a fragile state and insists it is one of Africa’s most developed despite its plunging economy.

The 93-year-old was speaking Thursday at the Africa leg of the World Economic Forum.

Mugabe, whose health has been weakening, declared that the country he has ruled since 1980 is the most developed on the continent after South Africa.

The once-prosperous Zimbabwe now has a cash crunch so severe that livestock in some cases is being accepted instead of currency.

“Yes, we have problems. But we have resources,” Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe’s economy grew just 0.7 per cent last year, and the government has struggled to pay salaries for civil servants.

Mugabe is running again in next year’s elections even as concerns about his health grow.