Published: Feb. 21, 2008By TONY NAMATE
I’m not an economist, but I don’t believe the inflation rate is the official 66,000 percent. It’s closer to 150,000 percent. I know this sounds crazy, but we Zimbabweans are used to it.
Here, prices don’t go up, they are “adjusted upwards”— constantly. Even the prices of goods that haven’t been on the shelves for months go up all the time.
Halfway through a ride, a bus conductor will tell you that the fare has gone up. When I went to Mutare in December, the fare was Z$1.5-million (about R150). As I write, the fare is Z$25-million.
The price of bread doubles every two and a half days. And the price differs from shop to shop. A loaf of bread usually changes hands about three times before it reaches its final destination, and its price increases each time.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=708973
4 comments:
With situation like that, I would imagine that many people would resort to bartering and trading skills and services. The medium of exchange is no longer practical and reliable.
This is just insane! Talk about money being based on faith--I'm sure that a lot of people in Zimbabwe have totally lost all faith in the concept of money. How can you take something that's so fluid and unpredictable seriously? I believe that something similar to this happened in Peru a few years back.
I agree with Brandon and Erica. The fact that the inflation rates fluctuates in such a ridiculous way, seems to me, quite pointless. If I were a local, I would most likely feel a loss of legitimacy in the value of Zimbabwe money. It's surprising how the people of Zimbabwe are just 'use to it' instead of outraged.
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