Zimbabwe Prices Now Quoted in Liters of Gasoline
Reeling from the highest inflation rate in the world, barred by the government from using U.S. dollars for purchases, Zimbabweans turned to a new money source Wednesday: gasoline coupons.
Private financial institutions say Zimbabwe's inflation rate was about 12.5 million percent in May and estimate that it has probably climbed to 50 million percent this month.
Embattled restaurants were offering discounts of up to 80% for either U.S. dollars or local cash because of shortages of both. They also added a penalty fee of up to 80% on top of the bill for those who paid by check, estimating price rises in the five days it takes a check to clear.
4 Comments:
80% is nothing. At 50,000,000% inflation, that means you need 500,000 times as much money next year as you did this year. Without daily compounding of interest, it means you need about 1370 times as much money tomorrow as you did today. If a check takes 5 days to clear, then the restaurant needs to multiply your tab by 6,850.
After a 15% gratuity, of course.
Wait a minute. That didn't make any sense at all. And here I'm a math major. Let's try that again.
I work that out to be a 3.66% a day inflation rate, compounded daily.
Over a five day period, that works out to 15.4% inflation. Anyone paying 80% on a check is getting robbed!
No where's my back brace? I need to take my cash to the grocery store to get a loaf of bread and a tin of sardines.
If there was ever a country that needs to be on a gold standard, it is Zimbabwe.
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