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Category: Societal Issues
Date Submitted: 03/04/2011 10:03 AM
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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...