Zimbabwe inflation rate reached outstanding 2,000,000% (even more probably) in 2008. For me it’s really hard to imagine such stupid thing happening to country’s economy.

For such a bad Zimbabwe’s situation is responsible Robert Mugabe (president) and his government. They just keep issuing bigger and bigger bills.

And I have to say, denominations got ridiculously big: the latest was Z$ 100 000 000 000. And all this happened in the last couple years.

Funny things is, that the government has announced a longer-term plan to dispense with the zeroes entirely, turning $10 billion into $1. And then what? $1 to $1billion once again?

This little guy bellow may look like a millionaire, but probably he’s just going to buy a chewing gum or a lollipop.

, Images via: cha.lt

So what went so wrong?

Basically government has no clue how to rule the country. Fortune magazine writes: “If anyone is to blame for the economic crisis, it’s Mugabe himself. In 28 years he has managed to take one of the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and ruin it in a stupefying variety of ways.”

So his first “golden” idea was to annihilated the agricultural sector by seizing commercial farms and giving them to his friends. Sadly they had no idea how to run farms and failed to use the land.

Secondly, he prosecuted a war in the Congo, spending $1 million (U.S.) a day in hopes of stealing enough land and resources from the Congolese to make a profit. Zimbabweans didn’t like that and have tried to vote him out of office, but he has punished them with violence and economic repression.

These and many other stupid decisions made many people leave the country. OK, this post is not about politics it’s about money (bills). So let’s get down to business. First take a look at this Zimbabwe inflation chart. So if you could buy a glass of beer for 10 Zimbabwean dollars back in 2006, now the same glass would cost you more then 10 000 000 Zimbabwean dollars. Alright, maybe that’s not very accurate but keep reading and you will understand.

On 1 August 2006, the new currency was introduced, with bearer cheques in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 50 cents, 1, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 dollars. Bearer cheques of 5,000, 50,000 and 100 000 dollars were issued in March 2007. According to wikipedia it’s the third Zimbabwean dollar.

Image credit: Sokwanele – Zimbabwe

Image credit: zzathras777 and larskflem

These are ‘Bearer Cheques’, so-called ‘money’ that has an expiry date. They have no watermark or little piece of silver because that would be too expensive. Yep, when you are printing brand new bills almost every month it gets expensive.

On 14 November 2007, it was reported that the RBZ was planning to issue more bearer cheques in denominations of 500,000 and 1 million Zimbabwe dollars. Bearer cheques denominated below ZWD 10,000 are to be discontinued.

Image credit: cha.lt

January 18, 2008 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is releasing the following bearer cheques into circulation: one million dollars, five million dollars and 10 million dollars.

Image credit: Gregor Rohrig

This quote I find very interesting. It sounds really something. Maybe it’s because of word “millions”.

“Further to provide relief and convenience to the transacting public, daily cash withdrawals have been increased from the current Z$50 million to Z$500 million per individual. This takes effect from Friday,” Reserve Bank Governor Gono said.

On 4 April 2008, it was reported that twenty five million dollar and fifty million dollar bearer cheque was being issued. The RBZ also increased the maximum withdrawal limit for individuals to $5 billion a day.

On May 5, 2008, it was announced that one hundred million dollar and two hundred and fifty million dollar bearer cheques were to be issued.

Image credit: ZeroOne

On May 15, 2008, it was announced that five hundred million dollar bearer cheques were to be issued as of May 20. It was also announced that agro cheques in the amounts of 5, 25, and 50 billion dollars would be issued on the same day. All of these will be dated to expire at the end of 2008.

Image credit: ZeroOne

On July 19, 2008, it was announced that agro cheques in the amount of 100 billion dollars were to be issued as of July 21.

Image credit: Mr Ush

And now the most funny / sad part of the story. With that big inflation you have to carry a lot of money. So let’s take a look on Zimbabwean streets.

In December 2007 kid receives some change… 200 000 Zimbabwean dollars is aproximatly USD 0.10

Images via: cha.lt

In February Z$ 200 000 denominations are worthless.

Images via: cha.lt

Going out? Take a separate bag for cash.

Images via: cha.lt

Just 60 million dollars for sweets and some millions for a bottle of beer…

Images via: myintrestingfiles.com

If you have some other interesting photos about this situation in Zimbabwe and don’t mind sharing, drop a line in comments or write an email at info(at)villageofjoy.com. Cheers!