Zimbabwe Absurdity

Wages are paid in Zimbabwe according to a structured system. The National Employment Council (NEC) for each particular industry works as an arbiter between the unions and employers and eventually a minimum wage structure is agreed. In February, which was the start of the official dollarization (we’d been paying in US dollars since October last year), the NEC for Agriculture came up with the current wage structure and set it as being valid for three months, purely to cover themselves in the case of, well, pretty much anything. My labour forces have latched on to this as being an indication that wages are going to go up this month, despite the fact that just about everything has got cheaper. I guess this is not too surprising given that over the last 2 years or more wages were going up over 100% a month, I mean, one can be optimistic can’t one? Why shouldn’t’ they be getting more?