To protest the hyperinflation that has rendered the Zimbabwe currency worthless and to raise awareness of the dire economic situation there, the Zimbabwean Newspaper created an ad campaign featuring huge posters, wall murals, flyers, and even billboards all made out of trillions of Zimbabwean dollars.

Zimbabwe’s central bank is introducing a $500 million note - the highest current denomination - as the once-prosperous southern African nation battles against spiraling hyperinflation.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last week introduced a new set of denominations, including a $100 million note, but that has not helped to clear long lines for cash at banks. Some people sleep outside banks after failing to get cash.

The $500 million note is worth about 8 U.S. dollars and enough to buy just eight loaves of bread. but prices change on an almost daily basis as businesses now peg their prices against the U.S. dollar.

Zimbabwe has had higher denominations than the $500 million note in the past. But over the past two years, the country has slashed zeros from the amount of its worthless currency, the latest being 10 zeros in August. Source : CNN / Photo: Reuters

Thanks to Gideon Gono, the present Governor of the Reserve Bank and President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe now has the highest percentage of Billionaires per capita than any other country in the world.

Once dubbed the “bread basket” of Africa, Zimbabwe has been struggling with the world’s highest rate of inflation – 12,500,000% - and years of economic mismanagement under President Robert Mugabe.

Try looking at the numbers: 1.00 USD = 54,000,000,000 ZWD. (Live rates at 2008.07.29) But remember that Zimbabwe slashed three zeros off the currency in August 2006, so based on the pre-2006 Zimbabawe dollar, the numbers are even worse: : 1.00 USD = 54,000,000,000,000 ZWD

Notes in the millions of dollars are useful only as toilet paper and it’s cheaper to light a fire with low denomination bills than with newspaper. House prices and lottery prizes are quoted in quadrillions - that’s with 15 zeros.
A cup of coffee at a government-owned five-star hotel was 250 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or $US5.30 this week…

Zimbabweans says it’s only a matter of time before big ticket items will be priced in the quintillions, which have 18 zeros … Though, it doesn’t make sense to go to work any more and it could take now 10 years to rebuild the economy…

Well, I think I’ll just wait to go to Zimbabwe until next week, so I can be a Trillionaire. Or maybe next month, so I can be a Zillionaire and then I may be able to grab a giant sack of Zimbabwe dollars and throw it all over the bed before I make love ^_^

Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence, with acute shortages of hard currency, food, gasoline, medicines and essential imports. The meltdown is blamed largely on disruptions to the agriculture-based economy after the often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms began in 2000.

Annual inflation is the highest in the world, around 1,600 percent, and bread has all but disappeared from supermarket shelves in the capital Harare.

The economic crisis did not seem to put a damper on Mugabe’s birthday festivities.
President Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.

The campaign to raise funds for the birthday celebrations is being run by a youth organisation called the 21 February Movement, which was founded in 1986 in honour of Mr Mugabe.”We are looking to raise 300m Zimbabwe dollars ($1.2m at the official exchange rate; $65,200 at the unofficial rate) that will be used at the birthday celebrations in Gweru,” Emmanuel Fundira, chairman of the movement, told the AFP news agency.