Zimbabwe unveils 10 billion dollar note

[Ironduke]

Wow... a really sad state of affairs in Zimbabwe. I'm not an expert on the country, but at one time it really seemed like it was one of the more well-to-do states in Africa. I think a coup against King Bob is long overdue.

Zimbabwe unveils 10 billion dollar note

ZIMBABWE'S central bank has introduced a 10 billion dollar banknote, worth $20 on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages.
Prices are doubling every day and food and fuel are in short supply in Zimbabwe. A cholera epidemic has killed over 1000 people and deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition has put hopes of ending the crisis on hold.

Hyper-inflation has forced the central bank to continue to release new banknotes which quickly become almost worthless.

New Z$1 billion and Z$5 billion notes were also put into circulation and the monthly cash withdrawal limit was increased fivefold to Z$10 billion.

"The increase in cash withdrawal limits is set to go a long way in improving workers' access to their money," the Herald said.

But previous issues of new banknotes have done little to curb the cash crunch faced by Zimbabweans, who often line up for hours outside banks to withdraw barely enough to buy a loaf of bread.

Critics blame the economic meltdown on mismanagement by Mugabe's government, including the seizure and redistribution of thousands of white-owned farms. The once thriving agricultural sector has fallen into ruin.

The veteran Zimbabwean leader, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says Western sanctions are the main cause of the economic crisis and worsening humanitarian picture.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...012751,00.html

[dave lukins]

I think a coup against King Bob is long overdue.

The problem being that Uncle Bob still has full support of the Army or he is possibly just a puppet of the Army Generals. They are not too keen to see the Opposition take control

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/army2.11737.html

[tphuang]

just wait until we start seeing $100 USD bills replace $20 bills as the primary notes being used.

[kuku]

Is this note on sale online :)) will like to be a billionaireX10.

[Shiny Capstar]

All they seem to do is add another zero at the end of their notes every few days, its tragic is what it is.

The thing is we are just sitting back and watching.

By the way does anybody know whether Westerners are still so badly treated there, at one point it got so bad that there were plans to use military force to get out our citizens. Nothing was done in the end but I am just wondering what it is like for our citizens who are still there/trapped.

[Parihaka]

I think I might send away for one and pin it to the wall.

[omon]

ukraine went thru something similar in 91-94. i was millioner, had few millions in my pocket on daily basis, thou that million was gonna buy much.
in 93 i exchanged 1 million for 100 usd.

[gunnut]

Howard Stern had a segment on his radio show way back when called "who wants to be a Turkish millionaire?"

One guy called in, answered the question right, and won 1 million Turkish lira. He asked Howard how much exactly was that? Howard said "I'm not sure, but I have the bill right here in my hand."

I think they finally figured out that 1 million Turkish lira was like $19 or something.

[sappersgt]

All they seem to do is add another zero at the end of their notes every few days, its tragic is what it is.

The thing is we are just sitting back and watching.

By the way does anybody know whether Westerners are still so badly treated there, at one point it got so bad that there were plans to use military force to get out our citizens. Nothing was done in the end but I am just wondering what it is like for our citizens who are still there/trapped.

They are afraid. I had lunch with a Zimbabwean expatriate last week. She went to a family gathering in September. It was held in South Africa so her and her brothers wouldn't have to cross the border into Zimbabwe. The brother gets food and essentials sent weekly to his company offices in Harare. She thinks it's a bad thing as enables her family to hang on. She wants them out now, no matter what they have to give up.:(

[Parihaka]

They are afraid. I had lunch with a Zimbabwean expatriate last week. She went to a family gathering in September. It was held in South Africa so her and her brothers wouldn't have to cross the border into Zimbabwe. The brother gets food and essentials sent weekly to his company offices in Harare. She thinks it's a bad thing as enables her family to hang on. She wants them out now, no matter what they have to give up.:(

Better to keep your skin than loose it saving your house.

[tankie]

Better to keep your skin than loose it saving your house.

Absolutely Pari .Still it must be heartbreaking for them to watch it destroyed, and burned .

[Steezy]

What do you mean by Westerners in Zimbabwe anyway? I doubt there are any at the moment, why would they be? I doubt there are citizens from any country but Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe at the moment. Anyone who is still in there and isn't even trying to get out, well then surely they deserve what they're getting.

[sappersgt]

Zimbabwe to prosecute white farmers

By the way does anybody know whether Westerners are still so badly treated there, at one point it got so bad that there were plans to use military force to get out our citizens. Nothing was done in the end but I am just wondering what it is like for our citizens who are still there/trapped.

This article does mention the fate of at least some foreign owned farms. The timing suggests Mugage is trying to focus public opinion away from himself and put blame on white farmers. Like Zimbabwe needs any more problems.

Sun Dec 28, 7:10 am ET AFP/File –(AFP) – Zimbabwe will prosecute 140 white landowners on charges of failing to vacate their farms under the country's controversial 2000 land reform programme, state media reported Sunday.

"A total of 140 farmers are to be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms after being issued with eviction notices," The Sunday Mail said, citing a report presented at the ruling ZANU-PF party's national conference.

The government ordered the white owners to leave by September 30 to make way for resettlement by landless blacks, under often-violent land reforms that critics blame for causing chronic food shortages in this onetime regional breadbasket.

The report did not specify what charges the farmers would face but law experts said it could be trespassing for failing to comply with the government ultimatium.

The report to the just-finished conference said another 278 farms owned by 13 countries would be spared from government seizure and prosecution under a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs).

This provision involves more than 522,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) owned by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, it said.

The government also recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to continue farming across the country, and is drafting documents to give them a 99-year security of tenure on their properties "as the land reform programme nears conclusion," the report said.

A further 97 white farmers will be allowed to continue running conservancies or private game parks in six provinces, it said.

This brings to 438 the number of white farmers allowed to retain their land out of 6,708 operating in Zimbabwe before the reforms were launched eight years ago, The Sunday Mail said.

A total 1,530 new black farmers have received land offer letters from the government as of September 30 and the figure is expected to rise 1,800 by the end of this week, it added.

Under President Robert Mugabe's programme, at least 4,000 properties formerly run by white farmers have been seized for redistribution to blacks, the majority of whom lacked the skills and means to farm.

The chatoic programme is held largely responsible for the country's economic crisis, which has saddled Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation rate and left nearly half the population in need of aid.

Mugabe, however, blames the food crisis on successive droughts and Zimbabwe's economic woes on Western-backed sanctions slapped on him and his aides for allegedly rigging his re-election in 2002.

Scores of frustrated white farmers have left the country to resettle in other African states, notably Nigeria. Many others have sought legal recourse to try to prevent the loss of their farms.

Nigeria, a regional powerhouse, invited the farmers to set up shop in April 2005 in a project located in Shonga in central Kwara state, which three years later is shaping up as an economic success story.

[Merlöwe]

ukraine went thru something similar in 91-94. i was millioner, had few millions in my pocket on daily basis, thou that million was gonna buy much.
in 93 i exchanged 1 million for 100 usd.

Yeah, thats how my grandpa lost the massive amounts of money he was hoarding in the USSR.