This photo shows the colourful reverse side of Zimbabwe's short-lived one hundred trillion dollar note adorned with the iconic Victoria Falls. Worthless just a few weeks after being introduced in 2008 due to eye-watering hyperinflation, tyrannical government and the complete collapse of this once-bountiful African country, it is a strange feeling to receive such a high denomination note and speak in such gargantuan values. Sadly a shopping bag full of Zimbabwean banknotes were needed to buy the simplest of items and virtually all transactions were in US dollars.
Wikipedia notes that Zimbabwean inflation reached 65 million googol percent (65 followed by 107 zeroes) with prices doubling daily, before being abandoned completely.
I was there in 2007 and inflation was something like 1000% per DAY! I had to wire in funds for a hotel ahead of arrival, because no one would accept Zimbabwean dollars. Pounds, Euros, US dollars, and Botswana Pulas were all accepted, though. I've kept in touch with several friends there and things seem to be getting better, although the prices are still astronomical for locals.On the other hand, foreign currency makes this a great travel bargain, and even when things were terrible I found the people to be warm and welcoming.
ReplyDeleteI bought one of these notes from Ebay a couple of years ago. I also have a couple of notes circa 1981 from Zimbabwe when the currency wasn't far off parity with the USD.
ReplyDeleteMark is this actually yours...that's really cool. I hate currency with so many zeros -in Vietnam I would always get the 10,000 and 100,000 Dong screwed up!!
ReplyDelete@barbara: I have had a few days of hyperinflation in three or four countries (Congo/Zaire is the most notable) when travelling and it changes the whole thinking on exchange and saving your money etc.
ReplyDelete@rob: I am sure they are popular on eBay and the like. You could buy truck loads of them for a few dollars.
@sherry: It is mine though bought home for me by a friend. I had been to Zimbabwe a few years earlier when there were still huge notes and hence I was aware of the issue. I have had big numbers in Zaire/Congo and Vietnam as well (and even the old Italian and Turkish lire worked in fairly large quantities). You have to be VERY careful of working out there values or as you say, you'll give away a note weorth 10 or 100 times too much!! I also like that some of these countries have really ornate and colourful notes for something that won't have any lasting value.
ReplyDeleteLike you mention, reminds me of the Turkish lira a few years back before they chopped of all the zeroes. I thought that was bad but a trillion...now that's something else.
ReplyDelete@anil: I' ve seen a few big numbers - Turkey, Congo, Vietnam but trillions is in a league of its own...
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