Tuesday, February 03, 2009

12 zeroes 

No, this isn't about the list of lobbyists in the Obama Administration. It's the new currency reform in Zimbabwe.
In an attempt to try to tame hyperinflation and avert total economic collapse Zimbabwe's central bank revalued its dollar again on Monday, lopping another 12 zeros off its battered currency.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono announced the new currency moves on Monday, adding that some foreign exchange controls will be relaxed and gold producers now can sell bullion directly and not to the central bank as in the past.
Steve Hanke estimated last last year that the annual inflation rate had reached 6.5x10108 percent through November last year. The government has given up trying to force shopkeepers to keep the Zim$ as the sole medium of exchange. According to CNN, more than Zim$300 trillion is needed to buy one U.S. dollar.

This is the third renomination of the Zim$; ten zeroes were stripped off the currency last August. Will their inflation reach the Hunagarian pengo for the record?

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