Zimbabwe unveils $100 trillion banknote

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 1/16/09 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe unveiled a 100 trillion dollar note Friday in the latest grim measure of its staggering economic collapse, heightening the urgency of a new round of unity talks set for next week.

Veteran leader Robert Mugabe and opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai are set to hold talks Monday with key regional leaders in a bid to salvage a four-month-old unity accord, which has yet to be implemented.

The stalemate over disputed elections last year has only fuelled the economic and humanitarian crisis that has impoverished the country, leaving nearly half the population dependent on food aid as a cholera epidemic sweeps the country.

The Reserve Bank announced in the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper a series of trillion-dollar denominations to keep pace with hyperinflation that has left the once-dynamic economy in tatters.

The new 100,000,000,000,000 Zim-dollar bill would have been worth about 300 US dollars (225 euros) at Thursday's exchange rate on the informal market, where most currency trading now takes place, but the value of the local currency erodes dramatically every day.

The move came just one week after the bank released a series of billion-dollar notes, which already are not worth enough for workers to withdraw their monthly salaries.

Inflation was last reported at 231 million percent in July, but the Washington think-tank Cato Institute has estimated it now at 89.7 sextillion percent -- a figure expressed with 21 zeroes.

[null and void]

Coming to a country quite near you soon...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The Obama administration is taking notes. See how wealthy Zimbabwe is? People never had this kind of money under white rule.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Are they so daft that they can’t just devalue the currency like Mexico did years ago, and at the same time save the environment by printing less “0”s?

[Domandred]

Putting one of these on my EBay wish list. Figure next week sometime should be able to get it for about $5.

[rabscuttle385]

*Ping!*

[y6162]

Obamachev = Mugabe

Lucky we won’t have to cart around wheel barrows full of trillion dollar bank notes as we have plastic. That is ...if there are any banks left open.

[mainerforglobalwarming]

Worth about 300 dollars eh? God bless them, the U.S. dollar will be worth a peso before long.

[rabscuttle385]

The Money, Banking, and Financial Markets Ping List. "Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations." —Thomas Jefferson FR Keywords: moneylist, bankinglist, financelist Please tag all relevant threads with the aforementioned keywords. This can be a very high-volume ping list at times. Ping list jointly pinged by rabscuttle385 and TigerLikesRooster. To join the ping list: FReepmail rabscuttle385 with the subject line add  moneylist. (Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop moneylist.)

[InvisibleChurch]

Inflation was last reported at 231 million percent in July, but the Washington think-tank Cato Institute has estimated it now at 89.7 sextillion percent -- a figure expressed with 21 zeroes.

They aren't even trying.

[mick]

Sorry Norm....you beat me to it !

[09Patriot]

needs obamas picture on it.

[nuconvert]

I can picture Mugabe ordering his staff to look up what comes after a trillion.
Unbelievable.

[Abathar]

"Inflation was last reported at 231 million percent in July, but the Washington think-tank Cato Institute has estimated it now at 89.7 sextillion percent -- a figure expressed with 21 zeroes."

Jimmy Carter declined all phone calls asking him to comment on these developments...

[razorback-bert]

How much is that in Quatloos?

[Scutter]

I want one. Do you really think you will be able to get one off ebay?

[Scutter]

They are just commemorating the election of Obama (all those zeroes). Look for a similar commemoration here, in about 2-3 years.

[NormsRevenge]

No problem, ;-)

[usmcobra]

I hear the $100 trillion US dollars bill has Obama’s picture on it.

Only $19.95 at your local Dollar General.

[RSmithOpt]

Any of them notes in teh US yet? I want a few hundred or so to mail into politicians to remind them after they make continued stupid economic decisions.