$100 Billion Note Introduced in Zimbabwe

[Pat McCotter]

$100 Billion Note Introduced in Zimbabwe
By CoinNews.net on Jul 20th, 2008
in Banknotes or Currency Articles

The U.S. public may be feeling a pinch of inflation's rise, but it's nothing compared to the stranglehold it has on Zimbabweans. On Saturday, the Zimbabwe's Central Bank issued a new Z$100 billion banknote to try and combat the severe shortages of money.

How much will the new note buy? According to CNN and BBC reports, its not enough for lunch or, for that matter, a loaf of bread. Apparently, it is sufficient — at least for now — to purchase four oranges.

Zimbabwe is stricken by severe hyperinflation that some news agency's have reported as high as 2,200,000% — the Zimbabwean government stopped providing figures long ago. Contrast that to an already outrageously high of 50,000 percent reported back in January when the central bank issued new $10 million notes.

Back then, Central Bank governor Gideon Gono was quoted as saying:

... to provide relief and convenience to the transacting public, daily cash withdrawals have been increased from the current Z50 million zimdollars to 500 million per individual ..."

The Zimbabwe Reserve or Central Bank issued notes in denominations of Z$250,000, Z$500,000 and Z$250,000 in mid December, unsuccessfully resolving the crisis.

Since January, the situation has only become worse with a Z$50 million note issued and then later denominations of tens of billions. In June, daily cash withdrawal limits were increased from $5 billion to $10 billion.

The new Z$100 billion notes are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa, has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks in 2003 for what was to be a temporary measure.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

to provide relief and convenience to the transacting public, daily cash withdrawals have been increased from the current Z50 million zimdollars to 500 million per individual

Sweet, now they can buy TWO oranges!

[sandm000]

Where can I buy some of the smaller denominations in bulk. 

Ebay does have a bunch of bills but they are about $1 each.  I want the giant rubber-banded wad that they haul around in wheel barrows.

[PattyLee loves dogs]

Where can I buy some of the smaller denominations in bulk.

Yeah, me too... I used to have some million-pengo notes, some billion Z-dollar notes would be even better as illustrations 

[David]

I am still shocked that Mugabe still can cling to power.  I would have thought he would be somewhere in exile right now. 

[Caleb]

Maybe if they keep printing enough bills, inflation will stop. 

[David]

Or they could do what the Somalians 'accidently' did and stop at the 100 billion note, then allow it to fall to its commodity price, then inflation will cease, assuming they allow people to legally burn or recycle the commodity currency.   

[PattyLee loves dogs]

I am still shocked that Mugabe still can cling to power.

It's your tax dollars at work:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/walker1.html

[Pat McCotter]

Revealed: The true horror of everyday life in Zimbabwe
Starving children eat rats, families turn on each other and farmers kill their own livestock to survive. Smuggled film brings Mugabe nightmare to world's attention

A Guardian film smuggled out of Zimbabwe brings home the economic devastation and deprivation Robert Mugabe has wreaked upon his own people. With Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, preparing to take up the post of prime minister in a unity government, Sam Chakaipa, at considerable risk to himself and as an act of resistance, returned clandestinely to his village, 125 miles from Harare, to document the plight of his former neighbours.

The opposition activist has produced extraordinary footage of what Zimbabweans have to do in order to survive in a wrecked economy. As money is worthless – Zimbabwe is plagued by the world's highest inflation rate – the villagers are reduced to panning for gold in rivers. Instead of attending school, youngsters from the village scrabble knee-deep in muddy water or dig ever deeper holes in a desperate search for a few grains of gold.

These small supplies of the precious metal have thus become a crucial commodity Zimbabweans can trade for food; a loaf of bread is worth 0.1 grams. But only the young have the strength to dig and pan for gold; the village elders must go hungry, unless they have friends or relatives they can rely on. Some parents have been forced to feed rats to their children, and hunger has turned family members against each other.

In a particularly wrenching scene in the video, a 15-year-old girl with a swollen face describes tearfully how her grandmother beat her to drive her away as she was an extra mouth to feed. She says she has not eaten for three days.

"I'm hurting all over my body," she says. "There is nothing for me."

Chakaipa says: "I have never seen my people in such a desperate situation." Nothing is growing in the fields, and the farmers are killing their livestock, effectively destroying their livelihood.

Chakaipa, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has suffered personally at the hands of Zanu-PF, Robert Mugabe's ruling party. He has been arrested and tortured, and his life was threatened when he wanted to stand as a councillor. His house has been burned down twice. As it is unsafe for him to stay in the village, Chakaipa has had to go into hiding in Harare.

His brother, also an MDC supporter, was not so lucky and was killed last year by Zanu-PF thugs. At one point in the film, in a mixture of reportage and personal testimony, Chakaipa stands in the ruins of his home telling us how the Mugabe government has destroyed his life.

It is too dangerous for the opposition, beaten into submission, to hold meetings or rallies, so Chakaipa chose to make this film as a personal act of defiance. He wants the world to see what Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, has done to Zimbabwe: how he has reduced a once relatively prosperous country to ruin. Chakaipa does not hold out much hope for the unity government, in which the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, will be prime minister.

Zimbabwe's neighbours – particularly South Africa – put enormous pressure on Tsvangirai to accept this poisoned chalice, but many MDC supporters, including Chakaipa, say this was not what Zimbabweans voted for. He fears that if Tsvangirai works with Mugabe, "the suffering will continue".