My First 100 Billion Dollars

It was pretty neat when I first moved to SA and started making a six-figure salary (gotta love that exchange rate - hahahaha) when little did I know I would soon be a billionaire!! I have to thank my good friend "Princess Shormila" for just giving me the 100 Billion Dollar Bill.

Princess Shorms, this one if for you. I miss you buddy!! (That's my friend Steve in the background there - he's just trying to steal some of the lime light I think). It's kind of funny because we both worked in the same office in Canada, but didn't really become friends until we both moved to our South Africa office. Small world and I really don't know what I would have done in SA if she hadn't been around.


The tiara actually says Drama Queen, which is probably more suited for Shormila than princess, but I suppose everyone deserves their day - hahahaha!!


As neat as it is, the 100 Billion Dollars is actually quite a sad situation. It's from Zimbabwe and if you could see the small print on the bill it says: ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS on or before 31st December 2008. Issue date 1st July 2008.



There are no water marks or anything on the bills so it's fairly easy to forge (at least that's the word on the street). Apparently, you can't even get the money from the Zimbabwean banks as they don't have any so the forge ability isn't so bad since the black market is one of the few places you can actually get money from.

If you go to the latest foreign exchange sites, you get the following Notice: The Zimbabwe government redenominated the ZWD on August 1, 2008 at a rate of 10,000,000,000 old ZWD to 1 new ZWD. No new currency code has been issued, but the old ZWD currency remains legal tender until December 31, 2008.


Regardless, to get a real feel for the situation, the 100 Billion Dollars today is worth 10.37cents Canadian, 9.93 cents American, or 78.92cents in South African Rand.


This is an article I found on the internet. It's dated June 15, 2008, and needless to say, the situation has gotten worse since. (I'm not sure how internet plagerism works, but hopefully this information is sufficient: http://www.therandtoday.com/2008/06/15/the-value-of-the-zimbabwe-dollar/ Copied on September 19,2008).

Images like this seen on the left are being beamed across the world showing how bad the situation in Zimbabwe is. The local currency in Zimbabwe has become virtually worthless. The central bank in Zimbabwe continues to print more money and thus continuing to fuel inflation. It got to a stage where they deleted three zeros from the currency but that does not seem to have helped as the zeros continue to pile up. It is said that one US dollar will get you one billion Zimbabwe dollars. Now if you look at the image, there are a lot of $200 000 Zimbabwe dollar notes. In real terms, that one $200 000 note is only worth $0.0002 US dollars! No wonder it is being thrown in the bin.

Zimbabwe is said to have the highest inflation in the world. Most statisticians and economists have stopped trying to calculate the rate of inflation in Zimbabwe as it continues to spiral out of control. Zimbabweans are calling for a change and they hope to have one come the presidential runoff election on June 27. Many think that a change in government could help revive the Zimbabwe economy. A strong Zimbabwe economy can only be beneficial for the South Africa economy.


The question on many people’s minds is; if there is a change of government in Zimbabwe, how long would it take to turn around the Zimbabwe economy? It certainly would not happen overnight but it would not take rocket science to restore the Zimbabwe economy. Agriculture was one of Zimbabwe’s main drivers and if the agricultural sector in the country could be restored then Zimbabwe will already be on track for a turn around. A quick fix way to stop the spiralling inflation would be to ‘dollarise’ the economy. Instead of charging products and services in Zimbabwe dollars, everything will now be priced in US dollars. This would help stabilise the inflation and usher in a new local currency for Zimbabwe. There is no doubting that Zimbabwe would need assistance from the international community and there are many donors ready to help Zimbabwe get back on track.