Once described as a model economy and a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed over the past decade and there are now shortages of basic foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil.
Twenty-seven new currency denominations have been introduced in Zimbabwe this year alone.
Zimbabwe has issued three new denominations of banknotes, including a one-hundred-million-dollar note, as the impoverished country struggles to cope with runaway inflation, state media reported on Wednesday. The limit has been revised upwards to 50 million Zimbabwe dollars for individuals and 100 million for company account holder. The new move comes less than a month after the central bank introduced one million, 500,000 and 100,000 notes, to deal with the skyrocketing prices of basic goods.
The 100,000 banknote is worth only one US dollar on the widely-used parallel black market and is only half the amount needed to buy a loaf of bread.
Below is the table which shows Zimbabwe's monthly & yearly inflation rate. Zimbabwe is the first country in the 21st century to hyperinflate. In February 2007, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate topped 50% per month, the minimum rate required to qualify as a hyperinflation. The last official inflation data were released for July and are hopelessly outdated. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been even less forthcoming with money supply data.
Absent current official money supply and inflation data, it is difficult to quantify the depth and breadth of the still-growing crisis in Zimbabwe. To overcome this problem, Cato Senior Fellow Steve Hanke has developed the Hanke Hyperinflation Index for Zimbabwe (HHIZ). This new metric is derived from market-based price data and is presented in the accompanying table for the January 2007 to present period. As of 14 November 2008, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate was 89.7 Sextillion (10^21) percent.
If you are not able to see the table, then open it on another tab & you can check.
Sources...
TOI
Cato.org
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