kind of a pointless observation... Might want to read this before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe More specifically, this: "Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998 to a high of 2,200.2% [3] in March 2007, a state of hyperinflation. The exchange rate fell from 24 Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar to 250(000) Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar (official rate) and 25,000(000) Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar (parallel rate), in the same period." which means, a zimbabwean bull would have actually lost money due to inflation, and an american bull would have lost due to the exchange rate. Besides, given that they have only a handful of tradable companies, I don't even know if you can short. I guess they'll REALLY rally once they learn to hide inflation
"With annual inflation running at nearly 150%, and with interest rates fixed at well below this level, investors are left with few other choices of where to put their money." Yeah, but if you look at core inflation minus food and gas it was only 1%.
annual rate of inflation ~ 2000% .... zimbabwe's stock market was up something like 12,000% over a 12 month period as of last week my only point is that raging equities don't necessarily signify a healthy economy. sorry if i wasn't clear. i didn't intend to be taken literally about the shorting lol
Just one of the problems living in a world with constant and limitless credit creation. its all very inflationary and no one wants to cool down this system.
One thing about most countries in Africa is you can buy all the stock you want but good luck when you want to pull your money out. Just about impossible which puts the whole continent (with the exception of South Africa) pretty much off limits to international investment other than government type loans/"investments" like the Chinese/Japanese sometimes do in resource-heavy places like Zambia.