Zimbabwe Currency

Covering Zimbabwe currency pictures, value, inflation and crisis

The Zimbabwe currency is officially the Zimbabwe dollar. It has been in operation since 1980. Amazingly in 1980 the currency was equivalent to the British Pound at some point even stronger. As the years progressed bigger denominations were introduced especially in the 90s going forward after the introduction of ESAP. The value of the Zimbabwe dollar began to slowly erode.

The turning point in the Zimbabwe currency value was around 1998 on the day called black Friday. The currency lost almost half of its value. With the land grab of 2001 going forward a new phenomenon called hyper-inflation was introduced in the Zimbabwean economy.

Bread which used to cost just about one Zimbabwe dollar ended up costing millions with a single egg costing as much as Z$25 000 000 (Z$25million).The currency crisis began in intensity in the year 2003 going forward mostly as a result of the untamed printing of money by the reserve bank of Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe dollar became worthless to the extent of rejection by the general public. Most people started trading ins more stable currencies such as the United States Dollar and South African Rand. However this was illegal and civil servants continued on the government payroll earning as little as US$3.00 (three dollars) equivalent per month due to the shocking worthlessness of the Zimbabwe currency.

As of late 2008, the government "conceded" that the economy had totally collapsed and allowed all business and general transactions to be carried out in other stable currencies. This was the official death of the Zimbabwe dollar.

The highest denomination of the Zimbabwe currency ever to be printed was the Z$100 trillion note. It only lasted less than 3 weeks before being completely eroded by inflation so much that to buy bread Zimbabwe people needed two or three of those bills. A single trip into the city center in cities in Zimbabwe on public transport cost as much as Z$100 trillion one way.

2009 $100 bill revalued

Zimbabwe money is now a precious collectors item which you can purchase here on this popular international site.

In external News Archives

• Mugabe says Zimbabwe dollar returning (The Zimbabwe Times - November 2009)
• Zimbabwe removes 12 zeros from currency (CNN - February 2009)
• Zimbabwe considering gold-backed currency - Gono ( August 2009)
• Zimbabwe's currency crashes, prices rocket  (Reuters - June 2008)
• Zimbabwe Slashes 10 Zeros from Currency (Coinlink News - July 2008)
  

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