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Zimbabwe launches $200,000 note
BBC ^ | 07/31/07 | BBC

Posted on 07/31/2007 10:27:11 AM PDT by TLI

Food shortages have become common in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is to start circulating a new 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar note, in a bid to tackle the country's inflation, the highest in the world. The new note, issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe from Wednesday, can buy 1kg (2.2lb) of sugar.

Food and fuel shortages have become common as the government relies more heavily on imports, pushing prices to new heights.

The official annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe is nearing 5,000%.

In practice, this means the price of a loaf of bread costs 50 times more in cash than it did a year ago.

Shortages

The new note is worth US$13 at the official exchange rate or $1 on the black market.

Zimbabwe's government has created a commission to find a way to control soaring living costs.

But correspondents say that as long as Zimbabwe has a shortage of staple foods, including maize, food shortages are likely to continue.

Critics have blamed President Robert Mugabe's policies, especially the seizure of white-owned farms, for ordinary Zimbabweans' hardship.

For his part, President Mugabe has accused foreign governments of trying to interfere in Zimbabwe's affairs.

The new banknote comes after International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that by the end of 2007, prices will be 1,000 times higher than they were a year earlier, Reuters news agency reports.

"Price controls that are being enforced are likely to exacerbate shortages and ultimately fuel further inflation," said Bio Tchane, director of the IMF's Africa department, who described Zimbabwe's prospects as "bleak".


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: africa; carterlegacy; currency; gloriesofcommunism; inflation; mugabe; shortages; totalitarianism; zimbabwe
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1 posted on 07/31/2007 10:27:13 AM PDT by TLI
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To: TLI

Well, that’ll buy a pack of gum.


2 posted on 07/31/2007 10:27:56 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: TLI
Zimbabwe launches $200,000 note

Duly noted.

3 posted on 07/31/2007 10:28:52 AM PDT by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
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To: TLI

This is the country Zimbabwe, in the southeast corner of Africa. Here an ordinary cup of drinking chocolate costs four million pounds, an immersion heater for the hot-water tank costs over six billion pounds, and a pair of split-crotch panties would be almost unobtainable. A simple rear window de-misting device for an 1100 costs eight thousand million billion pounds and a new element for an electric kettle like this would cost as much as the entire gross national product of the United States of America from 1770 to the year 2000, and even then they wouldn’t be able to afford the small fixing ring which attaches it to the kettle.


4 posted on 07/31/2007 10:30:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
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To: TLI
$200,000 note

I mean, I knew the album was kinda rare.

5 posted on 07/31/2007 10:30:53 AM PDT by jdm
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To: TLI

Note to self


6 posted on 07/31/2007 10:31:05 AM PDT by Pajama Blogger (Pajama Power)
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To: facedown
Yea. Woo-Hoo.

Shame they are not floating in crude oil or something. We would have 100,000 troops there because of the "inhumane conditions."

7 posted on 07/31/2007 10:31:11 AM PDT by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: TLI

Those people have been starving since the beginning of time. Nothing grows in sand.....they need to be told that and stop breeding. What has that part of the world ever contributed to the rest of the world? They will be a burden on the world no matter what we do. We in this country have our plate full with what is going on in the world. Let the EU or the UN, without us, handle this one.


8 posted on 07/31/2007 10:32:06 AM PDT by RC2
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To: TLI

Why doesn’t Zimbabwe launch the, “Mugabe’s dead ass” Note?


9 posted on 07/31/2007 10:32:29 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: TLI
Capital flight coupled with the flight of all wealth-producers has lead to sugar being 200 ZD per gram. Gosh, Zimbabwe is so unlucky.
10 posted on 07/31/2007 10:32:46 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: TLI

It’s a race. The printing press against the rising prices. Who will win?


11 posted on 07/31/2007 10:33:15 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: TLI
Wasn’t this the country that a few years ago decided to take all the farms white people were owning and producing food with and make it public lands? Socialism/communism makes its presence known once again! Forcing fairness on people kills more than it saves and suppresses the spirit of those it doesn’t kill off by mismanagement.
12 posted on 07/31/2007 10:33:31 AM PDT by MHGinTN (You've had life support. Promote life support for those in the womb.)
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To: TLI
issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe from Wednesday, can buy 1kg (2.2lb) of sugar.

By Monday it will buy a couple sugar packets for your 1,000,000 Zimbabwe dollar cup of tea.

13 posted on 07/31/2007 10:36:04 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (May the heirs of Charles Martel and Jan Sobieski rise up again to defend Europe.)
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To: RC2
Those people have been starving since the beginning of time.

No they haven't. They starved, and then the evil British came along. Rhodesia/Zimbabwe became an economic powerhouse (relative to the rest of subsaharan Africa, anyway): its exports fed much of Africa.

And now Zimbabwe is returning to the dust. But, hey, at least they got a chance to stiff Whitey.

14 posted on 07/31/2007 10:37:09 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: RC2
Nothing grows in sand

Rhodesia was an agricultural exporter and a very productive, self governing nation until Jimmy Carter 'saved' them. That, and Iran, are his two greatest accomplishments.

15 posted on 07/31/2007 10:37:24 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: RC2
Those people have been starving since the beginning of time.

I don't even have an idea of where to start pointing out your stupidity.

Until 1990, Zimbabwe was "the bread basket of Africa", exporting millions of tons of food every year.

You say nothing grows in the sand, well guess what? There is no sand in Zimbabwe, only rich fertile soil that is an agrarian country's dream.

Only an ignorant fool would make such statements about Zimbabwe.

16 posted on 07/31/2007 10:38:12 AM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: TLI

Wow, they must be like really rich! </public school mentality>


17 posted on 07/31/2007 10:38:27 AM PDT by ovrtaxt (The FairTax and the North American Union are mutually exclusive.)
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To: agere_contra
But, hey, at least they got a chance to stiff Whitey.

And vote in a "election" rigged by Jhummi Carter.

18 posted on 07/31/2007 10:39:12 AM PDT by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: RC2

>> Those people have been starving since the beginning of time. Nothing grows in sand.....

Not quite true. Up until Mugabe started his ‘land reforms’, Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food. But then he ordered his supporters to rape and kill all the productive farmers, stole the land from any who managed to survive, and gave all the farmland to his cronies.

Zimbabwe’s troubles are the result of politics, not ecology.


19 posted on 07/31/2007 10:41:58 AM PDT by vikingd00d
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To: TLI

God yes, Jimmy Carter. As darkly fallible as some kind of antimatter Pope from Zeta Minor. Everything he touches turns to death and darkness.

As the Simpsons would say, he’s History’s Greatest Monster!


20 posted on 07/31/2007 10:42:10 AM PDT by agere_contra
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