Zimbabwe Cutting 10 Zeroes from Currency

(Harare, Zimbabwe) According to an announcement by the central bank yesterday, Zimbabwe will slash 10 zeroes off the national currency as of Friday.

The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank's announcement comes just one month after the country introduced a 100 billion dollar note that is now not even enough for a loaf of bread.

"We are removing 10 zeros. Ten billion dollars today will as from August 1 be revalued to one zimdollar," Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono told a meeting attended by President Robert Mugabe.

"Appropriate measures are being put in place to address the current setbacks being faced on the currency front, as well as on financial and accounting systems," he said.

The Reserve Bank will be issuing a new 500 zimdollar bill, equivalent to 5 trillion zimdollars under the current system.

With the world's highest inflation, at 2.2 million percent, the revaluation is likely to prove only a temporary fix for the national currency problem. The U.S. dollar officially trades for around 45 billion zimdollars, but the black market rate is reportedly far higher.

Apparently, changing the numbers on worthless paper will adequately address setbacks in financial and accounting systems. The currency is still worthless but there are now no setbacks. So, be happy.

By the way, in 1983 the Zimbabwean dollar was 1=1 with the U.S. dollar.