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Nothing to lose: how Mugabe’s banker turned Z$1,000,000,000,000 into Z$1
Times of London ^ | 02/03/09 | Martin Fletcher

Posted on 02/02/2009 9:38:24 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster

February 3, 2009

Nothing to lose: how Mugabe’s banker turned Z$1,000,000,000,000 into Z$1

Notes with many zeros confused people and computers. So Gideon Gono ordered that noughts be crossed out

Martin Fletcher in Harare

Gideon Gono, widely regarded as the world’s most disastrous central banker, knocked another 12 zeros off the Zimbabwean dollar yesterday in an attempt to bring the national currency back from the realms of the fantastical.

In a stroke, the governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank slashed the street value of the Zimbabwean dollar from $250 trillion to one US dollar to 250, because the computers, calculators and people could no longer cope with all the zeros.

To counter an inflation rate that economists now estimate to be 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (five sextillion) per cent, Mr Gono has now struck 25 zeros from the plunging national currency since August 2006. One American dollar would now buy Z$2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000 (2.5 octillion) had he not done so.

Mr Gono’s announcement came just weeks after the introduction of a Z$100 trillion note, the latest and biggest of 35 denominations that he has brought in since January last year but only enough yesterday to buy half a loaf. “The zeros are too many for our machines to handle,” said Obert Sibanda, the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: davidosborne2009; hyperinflation; mugabe; spartansixdelta; zimbabwe
Manning the print press for Zimbabwe currency must be a real fun.:-)
1 posted on 02/02/2009 9:38:24 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster; PAR35; bamahead; AndyJackson; Thane_Banquo; nicksaunt; MadLibDisease; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 02/02/2009 9:38:52 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Darn it makes it harder now to be a Zimbabwean Millionaire....


3 posted on 02/02/2009 9:41:23 PM PST by UCFRoadWarrior (The UnHoly Grail of Anti-Americanism: Illegal Aliens, Globalism, Free Trade, WTO, UN,)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Sounds like Obama Cabinet position material to me !

Hire him, confirm him, ignore the ignorance of his bad luck and lack of skills !!

< / frustration>


4 posted on 02/02/2009 9:45:13 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

“Obert Sibanda, the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce”

It’s hard to believe there is still such a thing as a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.


5 posted on 02/02/2009 9:45:48 PM PST by HumbleButExceedinglyAccurate
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To: TigerLikesRooster

There currency is just as big a joke as there leader.
Maybe they should put some pictures of bozo the clown on the notes to complement the zeroes.


6 posted on 02/02/2009 9:50:54 PM PST by cavador (Three sins in life =Money ,Religion,Media)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

>Manning the print press for Zimbabwe currency must be a real fun.:-)

Indeed.... but maybe I ought to convert my money to Zimbabwean Dollars so that when our dollar crashes and theirs stabilizes, I’ll come out with a gain.... [/half-sarc]


7 posted on 02/02/2009 9:52:31 PM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

From billionaire to poor again by the stroke of a pen.


8 posted on 02/02/2009 9:53:16 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Ink manufacturers and minorities hardest hit.


9 posted on 02/02/2009 9:55:52 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: TigerLikesRooster

The Mystic Knights of the Sea are in control in Zimbabwe..

The Convention 3 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B09QHDWLgo0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOFM5PStH6Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_o2BAa1M8&feature=related


10 posted on 02/02/2009 9:57:42 PM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior
Darn it makes it harder now to be a Zimbabwean Millionaire....

At least for a couple of weeks. Don't put away the zeroes, you'll need them soon.

11 posted on 02/02/2009 10:15:30 PM PST by KarlInOhio (On 9/11 Israel mourned with us while the Palestinians danced in the streets. Who should we support?)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

What I want to know is how many Z$ to a monopoly $?


12 posted on 02/02/2009 10:35:54 PM PST by aquila48
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To: Jet Jaguar

“From billionaire to poor again by the stroke of a pen.”

Just wait a couple hours and you’ll be rich again!!


13 posted on 02/02/2009 10:37:16 PM PST by aquila48
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To: aquila48

LOL!


14 posted on 02/02/2009 10:38:40 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: TigerLikesRooster
a week after introducing the $10 trillion note they change the numbers??

the printers seem to have the only jobs left in Zimbabwe

15 posted on 02/02/2009 11:05:53 PM PST by GeronL (Had the flu. Not well yet.)
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To: GeronL

considering how hard it must be to get ink and special paper for currency printing I wouldn’t be suprised if the whole process hasn’t been outsourced to china.


16 posted on 02/04/2009 7:13:25 PM PST by utherdoul
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