Thousands of Zimbabweans lined up outside banks and currency exchange offices across the country on Thursday, some for days, in a desperate bid to get cash before Christmas.
Most are unlikely to succeed as the inflation-ravaged southern African country is facing a severe shortage of foreign currency, preventing many Zimbabweans from returning home for the holidays or buying Christmas presents.
In the capital Harare, hundreds of people, sometimes with babies, were sleeping in queues with no social distancing, according to some local reporters.
The shortage of banknotes is a legacy of the hyperinflation 13 years ago that forced the government to abandon the Zimbabwean dollar.
In 2018, inflation hit 500 billion percent as the government printed one-hundred-trillion-dollar bank notes that could barely buy a loaf of bread.
