HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe, grappling with a record 2.2 million percent
inflation, has introduced a new 100-billion-dollar bank note in a
bid to tackle rampant cash shortages, the central bank said
Saturday.
The new note will go into circulation on Monday, the bank said
in a statement cited by state media, joining about half a dozen new
high denomination notes already issued this year.
In January, a 10-million-dollar note was issued, then a
50-million-dollar note in April. In May, notes for 100 million and
250 million dollars were issued, swiftly followed by those for five
billion, 25 billion and 50 billion.
The southern African nation, currently gripped by a
post-election crisis, has been ravaged by hyperinflation which shot
up from 165,000 percent in February to 2.2 million in June.
Independent economists however believe the official inflation
figure is grossly understated, estimating it could be running
between 10 million and 15 million percent.
Zimbabwe's chronic economic crisis has left at least 80 percent
of the population living below the poverty threshold and mass
shortages of basic goods in shops.
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