Harare – Zimbabwe will introduce a new 100-dollar note, its highest paper money denomination, according to a government notice, but the bill is just enough to buy a half a loaf of bread.
The new note, the roll-out date of which has not yet been announced, will be worth $0.68 in US currency.
The introduction of the new note comes as inflation is starting to tick upward – at 72.7% last month, up from 66.1% in February.
It has revived memories of hyperinflation seen more than a decade ago when prices spiralled out of control so intensely that the central bank in 2008 issued a 100-trillion-dollar note, which has now become collectors’ item.
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A powersharing government that came into office the following year, ditched the local currency and adopted the greenback and the South African rand as legal tender.
But in 2019 the government reintroduced the Zimbabwean dollar, saying it was equivalent to $1.
On Wednesday, the domestic currency was officially valued at 145.6 to an American dollar, while the black market placed it at 260 to the dollar.
Zimbabwe’s central bank on Monday raised its benchmark interest rate to 80% in a bid to rein in inflation worsened by the war in Ukraine.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@PowerCables3
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