"This is a landlocked country. And its formal and informal economies would suffer. Within a week, it would bring the economy on its knees," a senior US official said in Washington on condition of anonymity.

If the world's highest inflation rate, last estimated in July at 231 million percent but now believed to be much higher, is not an economy lying flat on its face what is?

Robert Mugabe's claim sparks international outcry

[First published on my NotTheNews blog on specified date]