Aug 18 2006
Inflation in Zimbabwe
… has reached 1000%. Yes you read that right. It’s the highest rate of inflation in any country in the world today. According to the BBC,
A loaf of bread now costs between Z$80,000 – Z$110,000 (79 US cents – $1.08) up from about Z$7,500 last year
Just imagine it. People would always need to carry wads of cash. And god help you if you need to to do your groceries. You need a sack then. The NYT says,
For untold numbers of Zimbabweans, toilet paper — and bread, margarine, meat, even the once ubiquitous morning cup of tea — have become unimaginable luxuries. All are casualties of the hyperinflation that is roaring toward 1,000 percent a year, a rate usually seen only in war zones.
Zimbabwe has been tormented this entire decade by both deep recession and high inflation, but in recent months the economy seems to have abandoned whatever moorings it had left. The national budget for 2006 has already been largely spent. Government services have started to crumble.
More from NYT here.
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