HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank introduced 500 million Zimbabwe dollar notes worth just $2 on Thursday in the latest sign of spiralling hyperinflation, only a week after issuing the 250 million bill.

The new highest denomination note would buy about two loaves of bread.

The central bank also introduced special agricultural cheques in 5 billion, 25 billion and 50 billion Zimbabwe dollar denominations to facilitate payments to farmers during the current selling season.

Farmers normally have to carry huge stacks of bank notes after selling their produce to state agencies, while consumers often carry large piles of cash with them for simple daily transactions.

The country is currently in the middle of the tobacco and maize marketing season.

"The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is pleased to announce the introduction of special instruments to cater for the marketing needs of our farmers in the form of 'special agro cheques' whose lifespan will run through December 31 2008," the central bank said in a statement.

It said the cheques were freely tradable and would start circulating on Tuesday, while the new currency notes are available immediately.

Zimbabwe, which has the highest inflation rate in the world at around 165,000 percent, has been beset by long queues at banks as consumers seek banknotes to stock up on basic goods, the prices of which are constantly rising.

The Zimbabwe dollar, which had been officially pegged at 30,000 to the U.S. dollar before exchange rules were relaxed recently, currently trades at about 250 million to the greenback.

They really just need to save effort and money and print "Forever" bills like the new USA postage stamps.

This remind me of the illfated Intis and Australs of Peru and Argentina

And the Mark of Weimar Republic of Germany

well they have a chance to break Yugoslav record from the '90s... 500 billion...
i carry one 500 billion dinars banknote everywhere with me... it's a good joke to take that sum out of my pocket in a restaurant...
today 80 dinars = 1 euro...

Imagine the oooh's and aaah's when you take a $50 billion note out of your pocket in a restaurant

Here are the three Zimbabwe 5, 25 and 50 billion dollar agro checks.

I wouldn't be surprised even higher denominations to come out in the months ahead.

or what about the Weimar Republic of Germany highest denomination was 1 trillion
greece 100,000,000,000,000 drachmai 1944

but this take the cake

Hungary 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Egymilliard B. pengo 1944-46

I'm a little surprised to see that Zimbabwe, which was a Commonwealth member until 2003, uses the American convention of defining a "billion" as 1,000 million instead of the British usage where a "billion" equals a million million.

Since 1974, UK has adopted the American convention of calling 1,000 million a billion. Other European countries called 1,000 million a milliard. Zimbabwe, being a former British colony, follows the British tradition.

I guess today is a successful day - I learned something new.

nah, they're taking advantage of that. you see, in a few days when the current billion dollar notes become valueless the mugabe government will just redefine the word "billion" and all will be well again.

so where do you think it will end? Germany peaked at 23 trillion marks to the dollar in 1923, will Mugabe break that level?

At the rate the dollar is falling, I doubt that the ratio will beat the 23 trillion:1. But, if you use a stable benchmark, such as the euro or British pound, then maybe they will beat the Weimar legacy.

Actually the dollar bottomed out against the pound in November, and is up about 10% since then.

The pound is certainly not in good shape.

The euro is perhaps a different story.

Still, against all currencies the dollar is a little up off its lows of a month ago, it doesn't appear to be weakening.

For us Americans, the easiest diversification out of the dollar is gold or silver, foreign currency is just a pain.

I wouldn't mind having a few €500 notes to flutter around in my paws.

While I can understand your desire, which is easier for you to obtain, a 500-euro note, or an ounce of gold?

Frankly I would rather have a Lib $20.

I find kilogram coins a bit more appealing, it's just quite a nice concept to have a coin weighing 1kg.






Of course you could get a Kookaburra which is probably a bit closer to melt in price

Zimbabwe Cost of Living Update (July 17, 2008):

Official annual inflation rate had surged to a record 2.2 million percent, way lower than independent analysts’ projections but still the highest in the world.

An average family of six people requires at least 13 trillion Zimbabwe dollars (US$500 at the official exchange rate) a month to meet basic needs such as food, rent and transport costs.

The amount translates to just over US$50 a month if converted at the black market exchange rate.

An average employee earns 100 billion Zimdollars a month, way below poverty line, and most workers have to rely on informal trading to supplement their incomes.

A 2kg packet of bread-making flour, according to statistics, now costs over $260 billion – a 100 percent jump from last month’s price.

A 20kg bag of mealie meal, which is the staple food in the southern African country costs $720 billion up from $300 billion.

I read in the Daily Mirror yesterday that Mugabe blame the Western world, especially Britain for the crisis with the economy of Zimbabwe

Someone shoot him now (and I'd never normally say that)

Zimbabwe Introduces $100 Billion Banknotes

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN)
July 19, 2008

Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced new $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.

The new bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were already on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.

As high as they are, though, the new bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges.

The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar

Not quite. As of this typing (09h49 CDT on 2008-07-19), http://www.zimbabweanequities.com/ says that USA$1.00 equals Z$4.043^11, or a Z$100G note = about USA$0.247.



Another thing that I noted a while ago is that besides via the inflation, their government took the step of preventing its people from saving money privately (as in holding banknotes) by putting those expiration dates on them, forcing them to be exchanged at regular intervals and, I assume, by limiting the quantity that could be exchanged at any given time.



The sooner that Mugabe's gone, the better - and I'd hate to say it, but it is getting to the point that 'by whatever means necessary' is fast becoming more and more appropriate.

Mike

This note is the highest denomination banknote currently in circulatation.

This note also has the most zeros (11) printed on the note. The only other note has 11 zeros is Yugoslavia 500,000,000,000 Dinars 1993.

Woah, makes my $500 one look p*ss poor in comparison.

They're rather interesting but exist for all the wrong reasons sadly I really hope someone comes along & saves Zimbabwe soon, I really hate to think it could get much worse over there.

EDIT: Actually I have the old $1, $10, $20, $50 & $100 bearer cheques, god I'm really behind on these. Does anyone know what they've released over the last couple of years?

$5,000 in 2003
$10,000 in 2003
$20,000 in 2003
$10,000 in 2005
$50,000 in 2006
$100,000 in 2006
Then later on in 2006 they issued the following
1,5,10,50 cent
1,5,10,20,50,100,500 and 1,000 dollars
In 2007
5K, 10K, 50K, 100K, 200K, 500K, 750K
And this year so far
1,5,10,25,50,100,250,500 million dollars
Also issue special agricultural checks in 5,25, 50 and 100 billion

Also I can't believe the prices that these things are getting on ebay. There is currently a 50 billion bearer check at $108 with 6 days left. For a check that isn't worth the paper it is printed on. I won't bother collecting them because they are not banknotes.

I have got some but only gone for the ones that are cheap, there's several $100Billion Agro Cheques on there going for £40 but are only valued at 50p in real terms

Ah, so the "agro" cheques were designed, I take it from the name, for the farming industry. But considering the crisis over there are been used by everyone?

Yes, except for those who are lucky enough to have other means of payment ... such as the SA rand or the US dollar. As for shooting Mugabe - not that I support or defend his regime, but maybe Mbeki can actually achieve something now. Besides, I have not heard that many calls for similar action in Sudan, even though the regime there has killed almost half a million people during the past few years.

By the way, I don't have any of those checks from Zimbabwe, but I have read that the values visible through the watermarks are much lower than the actual face values. The 25 billion note, for example, has a $500 watermark ...

Christian

Zimbabwe Update
July 25, 2008

A serious cash shortage has hit Zimbabwe as the country’s economic crisis worsens each day amid reports that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe RBZ has completely run out of paper to print new bank notes.

Sources say the central bank is already mooting the introduction of a 500 billion dollar special agro cheque but the shortage of paper remains an insurmountable challenge.

The central bank has set $100 billion as the maximum cash withdrawal limit per day. This is enough only to buy a box of matches.

Bloody hell, could they end up breaking Yugoslavia's highest note?

Maybe not. The time of the many zeros in Zimbabwe will soon be over - for a while. As from 1 August, the country will have a "New Dollar". Ten billion old dollars will then be one New Zimbabwe Dollar.

Christian

On August 1, 2008 Zimbabwe issued a new series of banknotes, dropping 10 zeros.

Actually Zimbabwe just issued a new $5 trillion dollar note disguised as $500. If you consider the 3 zeros dropped on August 2006, this $500 is really equal to $5 quadrillion (15 zeros) pre-2006 dollars.

I take it that these are the "new notes" printed a couple of years back that were supposed to have been released back then. What's the betting we'll soon see the $1000, $5000, $10000, etc. notes

yeah, if they don't fix the economy, we may see the $100 billion notes back as the NEW $100 billion soon.

i now need to get a set of the current issue of notes ... this will probably be the only time in my life i'll be a billionaire! anyone have a source for these that they like?

Sounds right. There hasn't been a Zimbabwe note with good security features for quite a few years now... (2001 dated $500 and $1000)

I remember when I got my first 2001 $500 in '05 it could buy half a box of matches...

Zimbabwe has announced that they are redenominating their currency on 1 August 2008.
$10,000,000,000 in the old currency will equal $1 in the new!!

Take a look at:
http://www.rbz.co.zw/pdfs/2008Julymps/mps.pdf

See post #33.

Thanks for the link to the MPS - while I don't plan to become an agricultural check multibillionaire, I may try and get some of the (partly old, partly new?) coins. They will probably have to be replaced by high denomination paper again ...

Christian

I am going to get a set of the new banknotes, because they are banknotes and not bearer checks. I may try and pick up some of the new coins if I can.

Just knock off 10 zeros and things will keep rolling merrily along! According to the latest report in http://www.zimbabweanequities.com/ (Wed, 2008-08-20), prices in Zimbabwe have more than doubled within the past week and are up 1.376E9% over the past year, now at (new)Z$185 = USA$1.





Mike

Oh dear, seeing as they are no longer getting new banknotes printed & these were the "new" ones in storage from 2005/6 do we think that when they lose their value that they'll stamp them like the Brazillian banknotes in the 1980's?

Holy CR**! - it's more than doubled in just two days since Wednesday, 2008-08-20. It was (new)Z$185 = USA$1 then, now on Friday, 2008-08-22, it is (new)Z$393 = USA$1 - up 3.039E9% from a year ago.



Mike

Hmm... I wonder if the notes that haven't entered circulation yet will have "0" added to the end:

$1 => $10
$5 => $50
$10 => $100
$20 => $200
$50 => $500
$100 => $1000
$200 => $2000
$500 => $5000

Ooh, forgot to add got the $1 & $10 notes:




I rather like them, shame they'll have a rather short lifespan

And it keeps rolling right along - as of today (Monday, 2008-08-25), it is (new)Z$992 = USA$1, nearly TRIPLE what it was on Friday and 7.8E9% above what it was one year ago.



Mike

[quote name='Johnny 1989' post='395092' date='Aug 23 2008, 11:38 AM']Ooh, forgot to add got the $1 & $10 notes:

Hi Johnny
Need help ! instruction to upload 2 or more [real]images in one reply....Thanks

Hi Madison, I just scanned the two notes at the same time, the best place to host them is www.photobucket.com, next copy the link of the pic & then press the image button above & past the address, hey presto

TESTING--