Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Zimbabwe has just issued a new banknote with a 100 trillion dollars face value.

The picture on it is a pile of rocks that looks rather like a huge dog poo.

If I recall correctly, didn't the Zimbabwe government make inflation illegal a few years back?

I guess money in Zimbabwe isn't really worth anything.

Anyone from Zimbabwe on Dakka?

What is their currency called I need to check the exchange rate.

BloodofOrks wrote:If I recall correctly, didn't the Zimbabwe government make inflation illegal a few years back?

They cut off all the zeroes of their currency when they revalued it, and it still jumped right back up.

If they didn't revalue it, this bill would probably have been hanging around $5*10^20, or $500,000,000,000,000,000,000

Mekniakal wrote:

BloodofOrks wrote:If I recall correctly, didn't the Zimbabwe government make inflation illegal a few years back?

They cut off all the zeroes of their currency when they revalued it, and it still jumped right back up.

If they didn't revalue it, this bill would probably have been hanging around $5*10^20, or $500,000,000,000,000,000,000

A better argument could not be made for the Gold standard.

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3266

Hehe, their Olympians are paid in US Dollars.

I wonder if they have computers in Zimbabwe.

If they do, they probably don't work or a blocked so people can't use free will.

ChaosDave wrote:

A better argument could not be made for the Gold standard.

No, this has nothing to do with having an underlying standard. It has everything to do with currency presses being run by a grossly corrupt govt. A gold standard couldn't save you from that.



I tried to get my hands on some Zimbabwe dollars a year or so ago, I thought it would be fun to have a billion dollar note. Turns out Zimbabwe currency is restricted and can't be taken out of the country. Apparently Mugabe is very worried about exploitatative speculators devaluing their currency.

Zimbabwe's best source of foreign exchange could be selling 100 trillion dollar notes for £1. I would love to have a set of Zimbabwe notes to frame and hang.

I've just had a quick check and 100,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean Dollars is approx £3.9million or 5.8US$.
can't really see the point in making that note as it's virtually unusable and thus kind of worthless as a construction.

Does the not have that many zeros on it or written i word form?

If all the zero were on it, then it would look like one of those large cheuqes you get off TV shows

So how much can i purchase the country for :"o

About £7.50 i think....

Maybe we should expect email from Zimbabwean Princes now.

"Hello. I am a Zimbabwean Prince and I have a trillion dollars that
I need someone's help to access to..."

InyokaMadoda wrote:I've just had a quick check and 100,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean Dollars is approx £3.9million or 5.8US$.
can't really see the point in making that note as it's virtually unusable and thus kind of worthless as a construction.

Right now maybe but the government is thinking ahead. By the time the notes are printed and distributed they will be worth about £5. Zimbabwe's inflation rate is running at several million percent per year.

It's like Weimar era Germany when you got paid at the end of each day with a wheelbarrow full of notes and you spent them on the way home because they would be worthless in the morning.

Except in Zimbabwe now, no-one except the army gets paid, and there isn't anything to buy in the shops.

Yes but what is the point of having the note? If you have that much money, it's probably in the bank. If you take it to a shop they either don't have the change when you buy anything or your currency has become so phenomenally worthless that you might as well just lop a few noughts of your values and have averything as a lower number.

InyokaMadoda wrote:Yes but what is the point of having the note? If you have that much money, it's probably in the bank. If you take it to a shop they either don't have the change when you buy anything or your currency has become so phenomenally worthless that you might as well just lop a few noughts of your values and have averything as a lower number.

That's a question for the government of Zimbabwe. Given the total mess they have made of their economy, you are right, it's a stupid idea but that's the idea they came up with.

Well, I think the lesson for us all is that, whilst we all know that our own economies have turned into complete toilet, whatever you do, don't invest in Zimbabwe!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7859033.stm

Sounds like time to reinstate a pre-currency barter economy to me!

sebster wrote:

ChaosDave wrote:

A better argument could not be made for the Gold standard.

No, this has nothing to do with having an underlying standard. It has everything to do with currency presses being run by a grossly corrupt govt. A gold standard couldn't save you from that.

Almost correct, but if your currency is based on a set standard then you can't just run the presses to make more money. Or, well, I suppose you could, but if the people were actually using gold instead of paper notes then it would be much harder for massive inflation to take effect. I understand arguments between gold and fiat based currency, but what they have in Zimbabwe is beyond fiat-money and truly is a case of shameless corruption.

Instead of putting in my opinion, I could give you one of those Zimbabwe 100 trillion dollar bills and say "That's my 2 cents."

God, Mugabe is a scumbag. Plus the guy he replaced a s President of Zimbabwe had one of the greates names known to mankind - Canaan Banana. Makes Barack Hussein Obama sound positivle mundane, doesn't it?

In related news Zimbabwe just opened up their currency to use foreign notes as well as their own.

Kilkrazy wrote:
It's like Weimar era Germany when you got paid at the end of each day with a wheelbarrow full of notes and you spent them on the way home because they would be worthless in the morning.

Quite right; my history prof said during one class "alright, here I have das schnappel (snapple). Whoever gets the closest guess to the comparative inflation between 1919 and 1923 in germany wins it" -- IE, 1 mark in 1919 = X marks in 1923. so it all ends like this: I kept my hand up at 3 trillion and won das schnapple! It turns out it was actually 400 trillion. so... does that mean zimbabwe's actually doing better than germany did?

Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit something like 231 million percent last July, when they stopped trying to estimate it, possibly because it can't be calculated fast enough.

When money becomes worthless that quickly, it is useless to print more and more of it because it devalues faster than the central bank can issue new notes.

Now why couldn't Zimbabwe have oil? Then Mugabe could have been kicked out Saddam style...