Zimbabwe lays off more than 3,000 civil servants

Zimbabwe’s government has begun laying off just over 3,000 workers from its youth ministry, as it tries to make good on its promise to cut the bloated civil service and sort out the country’s finances.

Public sector salaries account for more than 90 percent of Zimbabwe’s $4 billion national budget — a situation seen as unsustainable by foreign lenders like the International Monetary Fund, with which Zimbabwe would eventually like to secure an economic reform program.