EcoAfrica Social Ventures

I arrived back in Zimbabwe on Saturday from Cape Town just after the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank announced the latest currency denominations to be circulated this Monday.

50 trillion, 100 trillion and 200 trillion dollar notes are due to hit the streets. The number 200 trillion in Zim dollars looks like this.

Z$ 200,000,000,000,000.00

Here’s $10,000,000,000,000.00 dollar bill which happened to come my way this week..

With the continuing death spiral of the Zim dollar due to the highest-ever-recorded-in-world-history hyperinflation rate, this means that in a month or two there will be bank notes sporting numbers in the quadrillions and rising monthly. It begs the question - how will there be room for all the zeros on these notes after six months or a year? We are moving forward into the septrillions and onwards towards numbers few people on earth have ever had to pronounce - let alone deal with on a daily basis.

I asked our director here why the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank does not just knock off a few of those tiresome old zeros as it has done three times in the past. As I understand it there is a three-time-only rule against knocking off zeros.

No one has explained so far what the punishment will be if the rule was ignored or who will do the punishing and who will be the punished. Nobody I have talked to is sure who created the three-time-only rule anyway. Was it an outside body or an inside body? But it’s really not worth doing the research to find out because things will undoubtedly change once again before the research is complete. No situation stays in place longer that a few weeks here.

The bad news is, for those outside the country that bought up hundreds of the new crispy 1 billion dollar notes a few weeks back to sell on eBay, thinking they would become valuable collectors pieces, you have been trumped several times since then and will continue to be so many times more in the weeks and months to come. I wonder who is designing this never ending stream of new bank notes? It’s certainly keeping some team of artists busy. The head of the Reserve Bank has said he is happy to keep printing new denominations.

Here’s a fun example of a detail from a menu chalk board on a wall at a local restaurant I visited yesterday.
Anyone for a $320,000,000,000,000.00 Greek Salad?


As an idea of costs, the price of fish and chips for two, an ice cream, an apple pie and a coffee came to USD $40.00. More expensive than New York City for a similarly modest meal.

As local Zim dollars have become valueless, three types of currencies are being utilized -

US dollars, South African Rands and Fuel Coupons.

Yes ... I said Fuel Coupons. Here’s how it works. Some companies pay their staff in Fuel Coupons, because paying them in the other two foreign currencies is against the law (which changes every week or so, as I said) and Zim Dollars become worthless before employees can withdraw their salaries from their bank accounts where they were transferred by their companies who did not have enough Zim cash notes with which to pay them. Banks limit the daily withdrawal rate (after queuing for hours) to a value that will buy a loaf of bread. By the time the end of the week comes all that remains of their salary in the bank is an overdraft charge.

Fuel Coupons don’t lose their value (much) so people would hang around outside the shops, coupons in hand and illicit currency- dealers would sidle up and exchange their fuel coupons for Zim Dollars at the exchange rate of the moment. The customers would rush into the store, snatch their goods from the shelves (if they can find any goods for sale) and rush to the check-out desk before the prices roared upwards again from what they were marked a few minutes before. Prices change roughly five times a day.

This situation lasted until several weeks ago and had existed for the previous several months.

Lately Zimbabwe has become “US Dollarized”. Certain selected companies are now being given licenses to sell in US dollars. The country is awash with USD. (At least the cities are). The illegal currency dealers who hung around on street corners changing USD or fuel coupons into Z$ are now out of business and have disappeared back into the woodwork.

Oh, by the way, fuel is now plentiful (for the moment), only to be purchased with Fuel Coupons which can be purchased with USD or SA Rands.

So some shops are now blessed with licenses to sell in foreign currency, and others are not. The unfortunate un-blessed somehow manage to find sneaky under-hand ways in which to sell in foreign currency too. It’s the only way to keep their doors open. Shops in the cities are this week filled to capacity with goods for those who have USD to buy. Shop owners are trying to recoup all their losses from a year of not being able to offer merchandise that they were forced to sell at less than the prices they had purchased from the manufactures. Prices are sky high. A box of cornflakes can go for $18 USD or more.

The desperate middle class are staggering under the burden of just staying afloat. The new obscenely rich are peeling off the dollar bills from brand new thousand-US-dollar wads and driving off in their shiny SUV’s packed with goodies.

EXTRA – EXTRA!!!!. Here’s the latest news of the day! Listen to this. There is a rumor today that the reserve bank is going to start printing and issuing U.S. Dollar VOUCHERS!!! Everyone is scratching their heads about this one. Who the... what the.... why the....
And so it goes on.

The majority 95% poor, who live mainly in the rural areas, who are neither being looked after by their employers (as many in the cities are), or paid in fuel coupons, nor have jobs and do not have access to foreign currency, haven’t many options by which to stay alive. They are in fact dying by the hundreds of thousands, quietly of AIDS, cholera or starvation. Some are living off their last years’ subsistence-crop-produce, but even with the good rains this year seed is now unobtainable so when last years hoard runs out so does their ability to feed themselves.

Of course this is of little concern to those who have created and are benefiting from this insane system. As one was chillingly quoted as saying recently, “Zimbabwe has far too many people so a few million or so less will be fine”. There is a silent genocide going on under the world’s noses. It’s just more newsworthy when people die from guns and rockets.

Here’s a toast to innovation. When there’s no money to buy a cel phone or a phone line, there’s another alternative. A good old fashioned PAY PHONE. Thought I would share with you how, when major services fail, necessity become the mother of invention. The Pay Phones vary. No city council standardization here. There are Cellular Pay Phones and Land Line Pay Phones. Some offer booths to shelter from rain or sun. Others – less is more.

The one on the left is the Land Line Service complete with long phone wire snaking back to a house. (Cellular networks, when working, are now charging in US dollars).


I will be sending out regular e-mailed snippets containing short narratives as my current visit to Zimbabwe progresses. Eco Africa is also experiencing some major challenges, which we are working through, and over which we will prevail. Eco Africa artisans are resilient. They know we will continue helping them if they continue helping themselves, and they are continuing bravely. I will also will be posting these news letters on to our blog site. There is plenty happening and too much for one email. More will follow.

PS. PLEEEZE pass this on to all any any of your friends and colleagues who may find it interesting and/or who wish to get involved or help. We still need to purchase food packages every month for our artisans and their families so any donations will be most welcome When I am back in NYC we will continue to organize fundraising events. See below for how to donate.