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<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/50155?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Zimbabwe+tackles+cash+shortage+amid+riots+and+looting&ch=World+news&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Zimbabwe%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Chris+McGreal&c7=2008_12_03&c8=1128153&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Zimbabwe&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FZimbabwe" width="1" height="1" /></div>The Zimbabwe government is set to greatly increase the amount of money people can withdraw from banks from tomorrow in an attempt to quell growing unrest, including riots and looting by soldiers this week, over a drastic cash shortage caused by hyperinflation. The central bank has raised the withdrawal limit from the equivalent of just 18p a day to about £33 a week following the protests in which scores of troops apparently angry at waiting in long bank queues targeted shops in Harare that will only accept payment in US dollars and blackmarket money changers openly dealing on the streets. The growing anger among soldiers and other Zimbabweans is due in part to the increasing difficulty of using the national currency to buy anything but a few locally produced vegetables and bread after the US dollar was made legal tender. The central bank is also issuing new Zimbabwe dollar bank notes tomorrow worth Z$50m (£17) and Z$100m to keep pace with inflation officially put at 231m% in July but which economists now estimate runs in to the billions.Riot police today arrested trade union leaders and broke up a small protest over the limits on cash withdrawals. The union leaders were detained as they led a march of a few dozen people to deliver a petition to the central bank demanding an end to the restrictions. The demonstrators carried placards reading "No to cash limits" and "We are tired of sleeping at the banks" because many people spend hours queuing every day just to get enough money to cover transport and a few basic foodstuffs.The police today also broke up a protest by doctors and nurses attempting to deliver a petition to the health ministry in Harare objecting to the lack of medical supplies and the closure of some large government hospitals. "We are forced to work without basic health institutional needs like drugs, adequate water and sanitation, safe clothing gear, medical equipment and basic support services," the letter said.The collapsing health service is now grappling with the additional burden of cholera. The UN said today that it had confirmed 565 deaths from cholera among 12,546 reported cases but medical charities say the real toll is at least double. One-third of the deaths were in the capital, Harare, where water has been cut off for days because of a lack of chemicals to treat the supply.The government said it will punish troops involved in the protests but some of Mugabe's critics suspect the demonstrations may have been orchestrated to justify a further crackdown on his opponents and possibly the introduction of a state of emergency. The former home affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa, who has joined a breakaway faction from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, told the IRIN news service that the protests may not be what they seem. "I do hope the demonstrations by the soldiers are genuine, and that it is not a ruse to come up with an excuse to crack down against the people, or even worse," he said. "You can't rule out what they [the government] might do. They have so many problems ... such as cholera and money shortages. They want to rule a country where they have total control over the people. Anything is possible - they face so many problems that I don't rule out any move to contain the situation."Suspicion is rife because the government has sought to retain the backing of the army by ensuring that banks regularly delivered cash to the barracks. However, the troops still have much to be disgruntled about. The central bank is issuing the new bank notes tomorrow as the national currency continues its interminable decline. A new Zimbabwe dollar was launched in August after 10 zeros were wiped off the currency because banks and shops could no longer handle the numbers.But the new dollar has plummeted just as fast, falling from about Z$10 to the pound in early August to Z$3m today for cash. Twenty-seven new currency denominations have been introduced in Zimbabwe this year alone.The rioting soldiers told bystanders they were angry that what little money they have can be used for little more than paying for transport and buying a few of the sparse locally produced goods. The government caught up with reality by legalising the use of US dollars and other hard currency in September. Dollars and South African rand were already in widespread use in what amounted to underground supermarkets selling imports. Now the transactions are legal, it is almost impossible to buy anything in Zimbabwe dollars. The Spar in Ballantyne Park, in northern Harare, is used by middle-class Zimbabweans and their domestic workers. It prices almost everything in US dollars and will accept payments only in the American currency, rand or sterling. Change is given in bread rolls because of a shortage of small foreign notes. Only locally produced vegetables, eggs and bread can be paid for in Zimbabwe dollars.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/zimbabwe">Zimbabwe</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
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