Jul 24, 2008, 13:45 GMT
Johannesburg - An Austrian company is supplying Zimbabwe's central bank with materials used in the design and printing of the country's virtually worthless money, a South African newspaper reported Thursday.
Despite pressure on European companies to halt dealing with the government of controversial President Robert Mugabe, Vienna-based Jura JSP is supplying the Reserve Bank with licenses and software used in printing banknotes, The Star newspaper reported.
Company officials confirmed Jura's dealings with the Reserve Bank to The Star and said they would consider revising the relationship if required to do so by the European Union.
The EU does not automatically ban companies from dealing with Mugabe's government but European companies are under growing pressure not to be in the pocket of the 84-year-old leader's regime.
On Tuesday the EU tightened its sanctions on Zimbabwe, slapping 36 more ruling party officials and military members with a travel ban and blacklisting four companies that work with the government.
Earlier this month German company Giesecke & Devrient, after being leaned on by the German government, announced it would cease supplying the Reserve Bank with banknote paper.
The bank's remaining stocks of paper are already running out, causing the bank to limit daily withdrawals to 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars per person, according to The Star.
In Zimbabwe's current hyperinflationary environment, 100 billion dollars won't even buy a loaf of bread.
Officially, inflation is given at 2.2 million per cent but analysts say it several times that. The central bank has had difficulty turning out the huge volumes of cash required to purchase even the most basic items.
Its response has been to issue bigger and bigger banknotes. The biggest currently is the 100-billion-dollar note.
Were Jura to withdraw its license and design software, the bank might be unable to produce a bigger note.
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