Pocket change

In Zimbabwe, they manage to eke out a living, but don't go expecting anything like an election;

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that the country only had $217 (£138) left in its public account last week after paying civil servants.

However, he said that the following day some $30m of revenue had been paid in.

Mr Biti told the BBC he made the revelation in order to emphasise that the government was unable to finance elections, not that it was insolvent.

Polls are due this year, with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF fighting Mr Biti's Movement for Democratic Change.

Mr Biti has previously complained that diamond mining companies have not been paying revenues to the government.

The power-sharing government set up in 2009 ended years of hyperinflation by using the US dollar, but the economy remains fragile.

Yes, well the US economy, which also uses the dollars is a bit fragile itself right now.