(RCSD) Zimbabwe's Dollar Plummets 80% (in one week)

I expect that postal rates will be raised very soon!
Anyone for a one hundred Billion dollar stamp?

Blair

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Zimbabwe's Dollar Plummets 80% as Residents Scramble for Cash

By Brian Latham

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's dollar plunged 80 percent
on the country's illegal currency markets as residents rushed
to buy foreign exchange amid increasing political violence
ahead of the presidential runoff election.

The currency changed hands at 100 billion to one U.S. dollar
in Harare today, compared with 20 billion a week ago, said
Misheck Chinengudu, who trades foreign exchange illegally
on the streets of the capital. On the official inter-bank market,
the dollar is at 91.8 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

``People are terrified that Zimbabwe is going to collapse
completely,'' said Julius Machipanda, who also trades in
the city. ``Others are scared because the violence is terrible
and they want to run away, others have had their homes
burnt down or their relatives have been abducted. They
just want to get out right now, no delays.''

Political violence has increased in Zimbabwe ahead of the
June 27 poll in which President Robert Mugabe will seek
to extend his 28-year rule of the southern African nation.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who garnered more votes than
Mugabe in the first round on March 29, has withdrawn
from the ballot after 86 of his supporters were killed in
what he said was a state-backed campaign.

Zimbabwe is in its 10th year of economic recession,
blamed largely on Mugabe's failed land-reform program
and economic mismanagement. Inflation is at least
355,000 percent.

``Many people tell us they need foreign currency
to flee the country,'' said Chinengudu in an interview
from Harare. ``This election is rigged and the people
are doomed and getting ready to run to South Africa,
Britain, anywhere but here.''

`Cash for Cash'

Zimbabwe's currency market operates on two levels.
Businesses and wealthy individuals often use the
``Rapid Transfer Gross Settlement,'' where money
changes hands electronically. Other black market
transactions are known as ``cash for cash'' where
the money is physically exchanged.

Jemima Sithole, a seamstress who lives in central
Harare's old Cows' Guts district, said she needed
foreign currency to escape ``the regime.''

``I have relatives in the U.K. and in South Africa,''
she said. ``I can go to them, but I cannot arrive
empty-handed because they are also struggling
and in both cases they are illegal immigrants
hiding. I have to escape the regime, no one
can live like this.''

As many as 3 million Zimbabweans, about
a quarter of the population, have fled poverty
and political violence since 2000. Many flee
to neighboring South Africa and Botswana,
though an informal network of self-exiled
Zimbabweans that exists throughout
Europe, North America and Australasia.

Blair (TC) wrote:
I expect that postal rates will be raised very soon!
Anyone for a one hundred Billion dollar stamp?

Blair

=================================================

Zimbabwe's Dollar Plummets 80% as Residents Scramble for Cash

By Brian Latham

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's dollar plunged 80 percent
on the country's illegal currency markets as residents rushed
to buy foreign exchange amid increasing political violence
ahead of the presidential runoff election.

The currency changed hands at 100 billion to one U.S. dollar
in Harare today, compared with 20 billion a week ago, said

I wonder what the lowest denomination still left is? A hundred billion
pieces of paper would be worth more than a dollar in fuel value for
heating and cooking. I will presume that the small bills have already
been burned.

Terry Reedy wrote:
Blair (TC) wrote:

The currency changed hands at 100 billion to one U.S. dollar
in Harare today, compared with 20 billion a week ago, said

I wonder what the lowest denomination still left is? A hundred billion
pieces of paper would be worth more than a dollar in fuel value for
heating and cooking. I will presume that the small bills have already
been burned.

History beat me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation
shows a German burning marks in 1923 when they bought less wood than
their heat value. So if stamps got too cheap....