Zimbabwe’s finance minister has revealed the extent of the country’s economic plight by announcing it has just £138 remaining in its bank account. Tendai Biti made the extraordinary revelation at a press conference yesterday, admitting “the government finances are in paralysis state at the present moment”.

Mr Biti went on to tell shocked news reporters that they were likely to have healthier personal bank balances than the state had after it paid civil servant wages last week.

Three out of four people in Zimbabwe live on less than £1 a day and over half of the work force is unemployed.

In the late 2000s, Zimbabwe began printing additional money in a desperate move to improve its finances, but this led to hyperinflation of 230 million per cent, rendering its currency worthless. Zimbabwe now uses US dollars.

as a foot note
France is skint as well, oh hum ...

Hmm, better than the USA or even the UK, which have minus several trillion...

So is China the only country with any cash? Given their recent history of exploding everythings I hope they manage to keep the piggy bank safe!