Thursday, 31 July 2008

Zimbabwe Dollar: 10 Billion now = 1


Had to do a double take on this one before the penny dropped. Received via email under the title “Stupid is as Stupid does”, if I can recall correctly.
I made a conscious decision when I started posting that I would avoid a number of issues, politics is one of them.
Looking at this however I cannot but think of Zimbabwe.
Nowhere to start from and nowhere to go to.
Sky News had a report early this morning that the Zimbabwean currency was to be changed. A 10 billion, yes 10 billion dollar note, is to be replaced by a 1-dollar note.
Rampant inflation is not new to global economy, the textbook case being that of Germany after the First World War. By just changing the look of the money and cutting off a chain of zeros on the end will change nothing except for making admin easier.
Rampant inflation is the symptom of deeper issues, and one cannot cure a disease by treating the symptoms.
No reference as to what was going to be done to address these symptoms was made in the news report. Maybe and hopefully Zim has a plan. If my memory serves me well, these plans are usually drastic measures for drastic times, and need international First World support, which is a far cry from reality given Zimbabwe’s non-acceptance in the Western World.
Hopefully something can and will be done to put an end to this nonsense.
If not, the new dollar will be back to 10 billion in a matter of months.

3 comments:

Slavedude275 said...

Mmmmm... If there is one thing I regret, it is to include politics. It has taken unforseen and some times undesirable directions.

When it comes to the Zim dollar though, you have to admit that beyond the politics, it is kinda comical with the number of 0's! The best souvenir I could possibly get at the moment would be a billion dollar note from Zim. I would frame it immediately!!

Graham said...

I understand that there are "plans", but the details are hazy.....

Graham said...

Been 2 months now, and inflation rate is still soaring......Where and when will it end