And to think we here were impressed by all those zeroes when Zimbabwe began circulating a $50,000,000 bank note back in April as inflation rates topped 164,900%. Ha! Turns out they were just getting the zero machine warmed up.
Now, the country's central bank introduced a new, higher-value $100,000,000,000 bill in an attempt to curb inflation rates that have spiralled into the stratosphere, clocked at 2,000,000% and climbing .
So what does $100,000,000,000 bill get you in Zimbabwe these days? The answer, predictably, is not much — according to Reuters, a single egg in Harare now costs $35-billion. Haggle the vendor down $5-billion, and you've got yourself three eggs in exchange for the world's largest bank note in circulation.
As bad as things are, however, Zimbabwe's economic crisis is still a miles away from taking a place alongside history's worst cases of hyperinflation. As we pointed out in our April post on the economic phenomenon, that crown still belongs to post-WWII Hungary, where at its peak the rate of inflation was 4.19 quintillion percent. At that point, you might as well start paying for things with hugs.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
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