Zimbabwe's central bank introduced 500 million Zimbabwe dollar notes worth just $2 in the latest sign of spiralling hyperinflation, only a week after issuing the 250 million bill. 1 US Dollar = 16,204,996,229.26 ZWD (as of July 07, 2008)
The new highest denomination note would buy about two loaves of bread. The central bank also introduced special agricultural cheques in 5 billion, 25 billion and 50 billion Zimbabwe dollar denominations to facilitate payments to farmers during the current selling season.
The inflation problems in Zimbabwe are getting worse by the day, due to complete mismanagement of Mugabe, the current leader and his government. In January, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a 10 million dollar note to combat inflation and issued again a quarter of a billion dollar note as recently as 1 month ago.
Despite all these measures, the inflation is still growing at a disturbing rate and has led to severe cash shortages in Zimbabwe. To combat this, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a half billion dollar note.
The official inflation rate was put at 165,000 percent by the government in February, but independent estimates put the real figure closer to 4 million percent. Current bank interest rates for overnight loans are whopping 8500%.
With no signs of relief, nearly 80 percent of the Zimbabwe population are living below the poverty threshold and have to endure severe shortages even for basic goods.
Can you imagine billionaires living in poverty? In Zimbabwe it is a quite common occurrence.
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