Zimbabwe unveils $100 trillion banknote

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe unveiled a 100 trillion dollar note Friday in the latest grim measure of its staggering economic collapse, heightening the urgency of a new round of unity talks set for next week.

The new 100,000,000,000,000 Zim-dollar bill would have been worth about 300 US dollars (225 euros) at Thursday's exchange rate on the informal market, where most currency trading now takes place, but the value of the local currency erodes dramatically every day.

That is crazy... a trillion zim-dollar bill?! Could this be where the US is headed? A trillion dollar bill sounds so ridiculous to me. Their one zim dollar couldn't be worth the paper it's printed on.

But as i stated before..is the US headed in this direction with all the money they have printed? news.yahoo.com...


Heh..and just to add...can u imagine asking change for that bill in 20's and 5's? You'd need a semi trailer.
[edit on 16-1-2009 by David9176]

[edit on 16-1-2009 by David9176]

Originally posted by David9176
"... Could this be where the US is headed?"

Yes, exactly. And not only the currency is getting more and more “Zimbabwe-like”, but also our increasingly corrupt political system.

reply to post by CoolBlackHole


I know that we are going to have inflation...but that high? Holy crap! That's worse than i thought it would be. I hope it doesn't happen. Where's all the good news man? There is basically nothing to be positive about anymore in terms of our economic situation.

My dad took us out of Zim in 1979 ... he said at the time that it would not be a place for his children to prosper. How right he was.

I live in South Africa and it is amazing to see how many hard working Zimbabwean folk are working here illegally, saving every penny to buy basic necessities to send back to families back home. Some turn to crime, but the vast majority just want to work and care for their loved ones. No job is too menial.

The 100 trillion note is mind boggling - and as a novelty item I would love to have one ... will have to ask my dad's sister to send me one so I can frame it and hang it in my study.

Sadly, in a months time it will be worth a fraction of it's current value, and they will be issuing larger denominations or slashing zeros again.

Zimbabwe, the jewel of Africa has turned out to be nothing but an empty dust bowl of broken dreams and promises. Let's hope South Africa's leaders see sense and don't follow the same route.

I was watching the news the other day and they were reporting from Harare where starving people were rummaging through a stinking rubbish heap searching for scraps of food - surrealistically, lying ignored all around them were hundreds of thousands of dollar notes ... ignored because they had either expired (Zim publishes their notes with an expiry date) or were totally worthless and would not even buy a loaf of bread.

In March 2008, a loaf of bread cost $10 million. Today it costs $300 billion dollars.
Zim bread price

"Hyperinflation" in Germany, about 1923. There were two reasons for it: the funding of WW1 (beforehand), and (after the end of WW1 1918) quote (Wikipedia) "the careless handling of money by the government". Does this remind us of something....?

A 50 trillions note (an European 'billion' equates to an US 'trillion' ), thus 50'000'000'000'000:

reply to post by CoolBlackHole


I can't even imagine having a 100 trillion dollar bill and it only being worth 100's of dollars. That's almost mindboggling to even think it's possible.

I hope that this doesn't happen here...yikes.

"The largest denomination banknote ever officially issued for circulation was in 1946 by the Hungarian National Bank for the amount of 100 quintillion pengő (100,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 1020; 100 trillion on the long scale)." (en.wikipedia.org...)

Governments will often try to disguise the true rate of inflation through a variety of techniques. These can include the following: Outright lying in official statistics such as money supply, inflation or reserves. Suppression of publication of money supply statistics, or inflation indices. Price and wage controls. Forced savings schemes, designed to suck up excess liquidity. These savings schemes may be described as pensions schemes, emergency funds, war funds, or something similar. Adjusting the components of the Consumer price index, to remove those items whose prices are rising the fastest.

After looking at the link and reading this section, it dawned on me.

How much has the Fed really printed? Would they tell truth? What am i saying...lol..of course they wouldn't!

Makes me wonder how bad it has really become....

Originally posted by David9176
"I can't even imagine .... That's almost mindboggling to even think it's possible."

Well, really? Maybe mindboggling for you, but not for me. I usually favor the 100 quintillion notes over the 50 trillions ones. This way my wallet doesn't get too weighty.



(...just joking - regrettably, he, he)

Originally posted by David9176

"... Would they tell truth? What am i saying...lol..of course they wouldn't! Makes me wonder how bad it has really become....

Btw nice avatar. Actually the gov has brains, but they use it to destroy. They WANT to destroy the currency, the system, the country. Ok that may sound beyond belief, but we must try to see through what's actually happening today, and try to connect the dots. For instance: why has the gov been secretly building hundreds of underground facilities and bunkers throughout the US? Because they fear the Chinese army...? But unfortunately, most people won't ever connect the dots.

[edit on 17-1-2009 by CoolBlackHole]