Zimbabwe Issue

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Zimbabwe issues $1 million bills

as inflation soars

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Zimbabwe's inflation rate is officially 230 million percent per year

Independent analysts say the rate is really billions of percentage points

Country has issued bills as high as Z$100 billion in the past

Current highest note, $Z50,000, is not enough to buy half a loaf of bread

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(CNN) -- Zimbabwe will introduce a $1 million note this week as the country tries to ease the effects of

hyperinflation, the country's central bank said Monday.

In August, the highest note in the once prosperous

southern African country was Z$100 billion. The

country chopped off 10 zeroes, meaning the

highest note was temporarily -- and briefly -- Z$10,

until Zimbabwe started issuing bigger notes again.

The current highest denomination bank note is

Z$50,000, not enough to buy half a loaf of bread.

Zimbabwe's currency continues to lose value as

inflation gallops ahead. The official rate of inflation

is 230 million percent, the world's highest, but

independent analysts put the figure in billions.

"In the measures under way, the Reserve Bank [of

Zimbabwe] plans to introduce a number of new,

higher denominations; review the cash withdrawal

limits, as well as commence aggressive campaigns

for increased usage of alternative means of

payment," bank governor Gideon Gono said in a statement.

Gono said the RBZ intends to introduce Z$100,000, Z$500,000 and Z$1

million (about U.S.$8) bank notes in a bid to help consumers who are

battling to make simple purchases and to ease cash shortages that have

been prevailing for about two years.

President Robert Mugabe's critics blame his policies for Zimbabwe's

near decade of economic crisis. A power-sharing agreement between

Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai...