The billionaires of Zimbabwe

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 8:57 AM Share

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Felix Salmon checks in on the inflation rate in Zimbabwe:

Comparing Old Mutual's share price in London and Harare, Josh Giersch concludes that there are now 35 billion Zimbabwean dollars to one US dollar - up from a mere 17 billion on Friday. Which would put annualized inflation, he says (I haven't checked his math) at 430,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000%. May as well just round it up to the nearest billion quadrillion quadrillion, at this rate.

Officially, the central bank still lists annual inflation as 100,580.2 percent, and another official estimate from February has it at 165,000 percent. Other market estimates put it at 1.7 million or higher.

EXPLORE:AFRICA, ECONOMICS
 
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