Tendai Biti made the announcement at press conference on Tuesday, declaring: "Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 in government coffers".
Mr Biti went on to tell the shocked news reporters that they were individually likely to have healthier bank balances than the state's.
"The government finances are in paralysis state at the present moment," Mr Biti admitted.
The confession is the culmination of years of ruinous economic policy by Zimbabwe's despotic president, Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980.
A decade ago Mr Mugabe, now aged 88, launched his controversial policy of expropriating white-owned farmland and handing it to blacks.
The policy, which saw 4,000 white farmers forcibly kicked off their land, was economically disastrous. It also demolished investor confidence in the country, paralysed production, and prompted international sanctions.
As a result, Zimbabwe - which was once the fertile "bread basket" of southern Africa and possesses fantastic mineral wealth - is now one of the continent's poorest countries.
Favorite part:Mr Mugabe is aged 88 and is reported to have pancreatic cancer. He however insists that he is the only person who can rule the country effectively.
Rather than acknowledge his own role in the country's economic collapse, Mr Mugabe blames the West, which has imposed economic sanctions in protest at his autocratic rule.
LOL does this mean Real Estate is gonna be cheap so I can buy large chunks of that shithole they call a country? its not like they are in a position to refuse. it would make great hunting land build a house for cheap. hell I could probably hire a bunch of the locals to be my servants paying them $2 a day.
