Tuesday 27 December 2016

Golden Quotebook: Zimbabwean Inflation





Oh, this one is really too good not to quote it. Writing about the hyperinflation that struck Zimbabwe in recent years, Ms Olivia Archdeacon tells the following anecdote in her article ‘China buys its first African colony for a meagre $40 million’ (CapX, January 2016):


‘After years of hyperinflation (peaking at 79.6 sextillion per cent) the Zimbabwean dollar had become virtually worthless. 250 trillion Zimbabwe dollars was worth just 1$. To illustrate: one local woman took her wheelbarrow to the bank (…) in order to carry the amount of bills she would need to purchase anything. On her way back to her car she was robbed. Two young men seized the wheelbarrow, emptied the cash at her feet, and ran off with the wheelbarrow.’


Hilarious, if it weren’t so very sad at the same time…