Piles of Bank Notes Needed for Shopping in Zimbawe

On July 2008, the Zimbawe central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages. A $100 billion banknote which is equivalent to 1 USD is now only enough to buy four oranges. With such hyperinflation happening, the number of people living in poverty must have increased at an alarming rate. Someone who is relatively rich can end up in poverty the next day. This reminds me of those days in Germany after WWI in 1923 whereby banknotes were so worthless that it was cheaper to burn them than buying firewood. That time, they also had banknotes that hit 100 billion mark.

Zimbabwe reported an inflation rate of 2,200,000 (2.2 million) percent. Buying even a small item will require you to bring piles of notes. This is exactly what is happening to Zimbawe at the moment.

I attach some interesting photos forwarded to me via email.

Zimbawe Introduces $100 Billion Dollar Notes After 2.2 Million Percent Inflation
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/2008/07/zimbawe-introduces-100-billion-dollar.html