So check This link out Then I found on http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ that 373 Zimbabwe Dollars = about $1 (roughly $0.99123) So can you explain how 100,000,000,000,000 = US $5.55 on ebay? Is this because said One Hundred Trillion Dollar note is before some form of a currency cleansing operation (from the Zimbabwe government) and is no longer in use/ legal tender Because by all means One Hundred trillion ZBD should = $268,096,514,745+ USD.
Per Wikipedia (Zimbabwe) Hyperinflation 2003-2009 Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the country's Central Statistical Office.[94] This represented a state of hyperinflation, and the central bank introduced a new 100 billion dollar note.[95] As of November 2008, unofficial figures put Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate at 516 quintillion per cent, with prices doubling every 1.3 days. Zimbabwe's inflation crisis was in 2009 the second worst inflation spike in history, behind the hyperinflationary crisis of Hungary in 1946, in which prices doubled every 15.6 hours.[96] By 2005, the purchasing power of the average Zimbabwean had dropped to the same levels in real terms as 1953.[97] Local residents have largely resorted to buying essentials from neighbouring Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. In 2005, the government, led by central bank governor Gideon Gono, started making overtures that white farmers could come back. There were 400 to 500 still left in the country, but much of the land that had been confiscated was no longer productive.[98] In January 2007, the government even let some white farmers sign long term leases.[99] But, the government reversed course again and started demanding that all remaining white farmers leave the country or face jail.[100][101] In August 2006, a new revalued Zimbabwean dollar was introduced, equal to 1000 of the prior Zimbabwean. The exchange rate fell from 24 old Zimbabwean dollars per U.S. dollar (USD) in 1998 to 250,000 prior or 250 new Zimbabwean dollars per USD at the official rate,[102] and an estimated 120,000,000 old or 120,000 revalued Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar on the parallel market,[103] in June 2007. In January, 2009, Zimbabwe introduced a new Z$100 trillion banknote.[104] On January 29, in an effort to counteract his country's runaway inflation, acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that Zimbabweans will be permitted to use other, more stable currencies (e.g. Sterling, Euro, South African Rand and the United States Dollar) to do business, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar.[105] On February 2, 2009, the RBZ announced that a further 12 zeros were to be taken off the currency, with 1,000,000,000,000 (third) Zimbabwe dollars being exchanged for 1 new (fourth) dollar. New banknotes are to be introduced with a face value of Z$1, Z$5, Z$10, Z$20, Z$50, Z$100 and Z$500.The banknotes of the fourth dollar were to circulate alongside the third dollar, which remained legal tender until 30 June 2009.[106]
The link was for five notes. I bought a set of the different denominations because they looked pretty cool with those outrageous numbers.
this is awesome im buying one. Just imagine..if the zimababwae economy turned around and started being like a vacation spot...Move there with a hundred trillion dollars lol. 30 years later...ah...yah..I'm buying.
Back when I collected, I pursued Aviation as a theme on banknotes. Brazil honored Alberto Santos-Dumont on two different consecutive series. The earlier one was revalued 1000 to one against the old. For a time, people in Brazil "saved" by buying things -- anything: radios, for instance. Then, you could trade so many radios for a television or refrigerator. Anyway, the thing is, I paid about $5 each for the notes (choice uncirculated!). As in the case of Zimbabwe, they were worth far more to a collector than on the street. That is often the case with numismatics. I mean a 2-cent piece from 1864 is, after all, just two cents, right? Finally, the last news I had from Z was that the government stopped issuing money completely.
By the way... The other day, I passed a pizza shop and their sign lacked an obvious decimal point, but it got me to wonder how long before a pizza costs $899? I mean, eventually, right?
Except they do not use those Zimbabwe dollars. In spring 2009, the Zimdollar was officially "suspended". The country has been using other currencies (primarily the US Dollar and the South African Rand) since then. Christian
Another thing to think of, that chrisild eluded to is that when the economy turns around, they will suspend those notes and deem them worthless. Germany had the same thing happen during its hyperinflationary period in the post WWI period before National Socialists took over. The money was considered worthless and they moved to a new monetary system. I have a 100 billion mark note from that time and they basically used one of those to buy 2 loaves of bread (or heat their homes). The same will happen in Zimbabwe.
Do not confuse "the country" with "the government." Inflation like that happens when the government is broke: they have no more assets. In the case of Germany, they lost all of their gold to the Allies who made them pay for the cost of World War I. In the case of Zimbabwe, they have no tax income because the government destroyed the economy by chasing out (or allowing to be killed) the most productive people. I am sure that the survivors used whatever currency was available -- and I saw reports of people panning for gold in streams where a a tenth of a gram would buy food for the day. But what does the government use to pay the troops and bureau workers? Where does the government get revenue? By the way, suffering the same inflation after World War I, but not being totally looted by the Allies, Austria borrowed gold and restabilized its currency. That was a benefit of having Austrian economists close at hand when they were needed.
Well, I am fairly sure that much of "the government" in Zimbabwe did and does not really suffer. But as far as most of the population is concerned, the current situation is better (in the sense of a little less bad) than before from what I have read. Used to be that people in Zimbabwe who had the option to get "stable" money (rand, dollar, etc.) were much better off as they could buy things that were totally out of reach for others. Nowadays, those who have a job - the fact that many do not is another problem - get their wages/salaries in some currency that does not lose most of its value within a day ... Christian
In 2001 it took 70 Z$ to equal 1 US$. If they hadn't done the currency revaluations in 2006, 2008, and 2009 it would have taken 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Z$ to have the same purchasing power in Mar 2009. The inflation rate reached its highest rate in Nov 2008. In the first two weeks of that month the rate reached 79.6 billion % per month. Prices were doubling every 24 hours.
