Sign In
SHARE
Inflation Nightmare
Zimbabwe long ago became an absurd horror show, its people brutalized by the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, a deep economic slump, and hyperinflation.
Or should we say hyper-hyperinflation? The official inflation rate of this African nation has gone beyond surreal. The inflation rate in June, was pegged at 11.2 million percent, up from 2.2 million percent in May.
"It gained 9,035,045.5 percentage points from the May rate of 2,233,713.4 percent," state media said today, the BBC reports, quoting the Central Statistical Office.
Despite that apparent degree of precision in the official figure, economists say it severely underestimates inflation in the country.
"The actual figure could be high as 40 million percent in June," John Robertson, an independent economist, told Agence France Press. He added that the figure for August could be 600 million percent.
Hopes for any improvement in the economy rest in a possible power-sharing deal between Mugable and the political opposition. But that has so far proved elusive.
One may ask why the government even bothers calculating monthly inflation, when it is a runaway bullet train. For one month last year, it did not, because government officials could not find enough goods on empty store shelves to check prices.
The government has taken one decisive action. At the beginning of the month, it revalued 10 billion Zimbawean dollars to one dollar.
The move echoes the one taken by the German central bank of Weimar republic, when 10 billion old marks became one new rentenmark. The inflation of Zimbabwe is fast approaching the rate of 1920's Germany.
(For a slideshow on the effects of inflation in Zimbabwe, click here.)
Loading...
Thank you for registering as a Portfolio.com Insider. Your comment has been added.
Create Your Public Profile
- ACBJ to relaunch Portfolio.com
- May 20 2009 1:44PM EDT
- 44, Day 97: On Golf, Swine Flu, and a "Hallmark Holiday"
- Apr 26 2009 5:39PM EDT
- 44, Day 96: Where's the Suggestion Box?
- Apr 25 2009 2:10PM EDT
- 44, Day 95: Let Them Have Student Loans
- Apr 24 2009 6:49PM EDT
- Stressing Out Over Stress Tests
- Apr 24 2009 2:14PM EDT
- King of the Private Equity Hill
- Apr 24 2009 8:23AM EDT
- 44, Day 94: What's in Obama's Wallet?
- Apr 23 2009 6:39PM EDT
- Madoff Clawback Campaign Targets Ex-Clients
- Apr 23 2009 3:00PM EDT
- Merrill, Muzzle, and the Mob
- Apr 23 2009 1:45PM EDT
- 44, Day 93: Earthly Concerns
- Apr 22 2009 7:14PM EDT
- Stanford Prosecutor Arrested for Assault
- Apr 22 2009 5:47PM EDT
- IMF Downgrades the Global Economy
- Apr 22 2009 2:00PM EDT
- Ackman Opens His Target Slate to Questions
- Apr 22 2009 11:51AM EDT
- Freddie Mac Acting CFO Found Dead
- Apr 22 2009 8:42AM EDT
- 44, Day 92: About Those Interrogations
- Apr 21 2009 5:53PM EDT
Archive
