At Solomon Chakauya’s grocery store in Zimbabwe’s Chinamhora district outside Harare, there’s no sign of the seasonal Christmas rush that he needs to keep his business afloat.

Even in the country’s toughest times, sales rocketed in the days before Christmas, but this year few people are able to buy anything.

It is a far cry from the revived economy that President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised more than a year ago when he took over from the ousted Robert Mugabe.

Instead, shortages of bread, cooking oil and fuel have worsened in recent months, banknotes become even scarcer and shop shelves have often been left bare.

“In previous years, people would stream in to buy things like rice, oil, biscuits, sweets, soup powder and drinks. It was so busy I would be on my feet all day,” Chakauya, 29, told the news agency.

“Things are tough and most people have no money.”

But over this holiday season, Chakauya has sometimes had only four customers a day, leaving him to kill time sitting in the shade in front of his store.

Local villager Emilda Chingarambe said that for the first time in many years she could not buy her two daughters new clothes for Christmas day.

“I don’t consider it Christmas at all,” said Chingarambe whose husband works part-time as a labourer tilling fields. “There is no bread in the shops. We can’t afford flour and groceries we usually buy for Christmas.”

Shortages have fuelled a ferocious climb in prices and long queues.

In Chinamhora, a litre of cooking oil was around $3.50 in early September and is now selling for $10. Inflation is officially 20 percent.