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Zimbabwe introduces 100-billion-dollar note
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Sat Jul 19, 1:45 PM ET[/i]
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HARARE (AFP) -
Zimbabwe,
grappling with a record 2.2 million percent inflation, has introduced a
new 100-billion-dollar bank note in a bid to tackle rampant cash
shortages, the central bank said Saturday.
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The new note will go into circulation on Monday, the bank said in a
statement cited by state media, joining about half a dozen new high
denomination notes already issued this year.
In January, a 10-million-dollar note was issued, then a
50-million-dollar note in April. In May, notes for 100 million and 250
million dollars were issued, swiftly followed by those for five
billion, 25 billion and 50 billion.
The southern African nation, currently gripped by a post-election
crisis, has been ravaged by hyperinflation which shot up from 165,000
percent in February to 2.2 million in June.
Independent economists however believe the official inflation
figure is grossly understated, estimating it could be running between
10 million and 15 million percent.
Zimbabwe's chronic economic crisis has left at least 80 percent of
the population living below the poverty threshold and mass shortages of
basic goods in shops.
