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Recent figures (as of 14 November 2008) estimate Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion (1021) percent. <1>
<snip>
2008
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a ZWD 10,000,000 note in January 2008, roughly equivalent of 4 US dollars.<18> Zimbabwe's inflation soared to a record high of 26,470.8 percent as the economy contracted by 6 percent, the central bank said.<19>
In April 2008 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a ZWD 50,000,000 note, which was then worth approximately 1.20 US dollars.<20> In May 2008 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued bank notes or rather "bearer cheques" to the value of ZWD 100 million and ZWD 250 million.<21> Meanwhile inflation had surged to an estimated 165,000 percent <22> with some unconfirmed reports putting the figure as high at 400,000 percent. Ten days later, new notes with a value of ZWD 500 million (then equivalent to about USD 2) were issued.<23> The US ambassador to Harare projected that inflation would soar to 1.5 million percent by the end of 2008.
By the beginning of July 2008, official figures put the inflation rate at 355,000 percent<24> and with some independent estimates as high as 8,500,000 percent.<25> By July 4th, 2008 at 5PM, a bottle of beer cost $100 billion Zimbabwean dollars, but an hour later, the price had gone up to $150 billion; the Los Angeles Times further reported on July 15th, 2008 that the printing presses were running out of paper to print the money, and it was feared that because of human rights concerns, Germany would cut off the supply of paper and the software license for creating designs for ever higher denominations of currency. <26> On July 16, the official inflation rate was reported by Zimbabwe's central bank as 2.2 million percent.<27>
On 19 July 2008, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced plans to introduce a Z$100 billion bank note.<28>
On July 30, 2008, the Governor of the RBZ, Gideon Gono announced that the Zimbabwe dollar would be redenominated by removing 10 zeroes, with effect from August 1, 2008. ZWD10billion will become 1 dollar after the redenomination. <29>
On August 19, 2008, official figures announced for June estimated inflation of over 11,250,000 percent (i.e., prices doubling every 22 days). <30>
Official statistics reported in October put Zimbabwe's annual inflation in July 2008 at 231 million percent. The annual rate of price growth was 11.2 million in June. The Central Statistical Office stated that it therefore gained 219.8 million percentage points.<31><32><33>
The Cato Institute's Senior Fellow Steve Hanke released a document estimating Zimbabwe's annualized inflation rate to be 89.7 sextillion percent as of November 14, 2008; by his calculations, between October 24 and November 14, prices in Zimbabwe increased by the factor of 170-200 each week.<1>
On December 6, 2008, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced plans to circulate the ZWD 200,000,000 note, just days after introducing the ZWD 100,000,000 note. Even with the circulation of both notes amid the entrenched hyperinflation, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe left in place caps on daily cash withdrawals at 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars, which is the equivalent of about 25 U.S. cents.<34>
2009
In late December 2008 and early January 2009 the use of foreign currency as a common medium of exchange has become increasingly popular as fewer goods and services are being offered in local currency. In a move to help businesses suffering from chronic shortages of foreign currency to import goods and spare parts the Zimbabwe's central bank licensed around 1,000 shops to sell goods in foreign currency.<35><36>
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