Milk cows in Zimbabwe must be feeling pretty important these days, with milk selling for $24 bill...
Credit: Rob Waterhouse | ©sxc.hu/Rob Waterhouse
In Zimbabwe, even the low income workers are billionaires. Good news? Not quite.
The inflation rate in Zimbabwe is now about 4 million percent, according to Yahoo!News. This is the highest inflation rate in the world.
What does a 4 million percent inflation rate mean in practical terms?
Consider the news reported at WCBStv.com about threshold milk prices in the United States. The threshold milk price reached $4.37 per gallon due to the rising costs of diesel used in the trucks that transport milk to grocery stores. The threshold price is the maximum price retailers are allowed to charge and is based on the price the Federal government pays the farmers for milk.
Now compare the United States milk cost with the milk cost in Zimbabwe. While Americans complain about milk costing over $4 per gallon, a mere pint of milk in Zimbabwe costs 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars, according to Yahoo!News, or 24 billion dollars per gallon. While 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars are only worth about 30 cents in United States dollars, imagine having to carry 3 billion dollars to the store to buy that pint of milk.
Customers walking into a store in Zimbabwe to buy the equivalent of $100 United States dollars in groceries would need to carry along nearly a trillion dollars to pay for those groceries. Does that mean that a Zimbabwean out to buy a television, a computer, or a car needs to go in search of a wheelbarrow first- to carry the necessary cash?
The Zimbabwe dollar is officially divided into 100 cents like the United States dollar. But those cents have become worthless in the face of 4 million percent inflation and are not used in practice. Zimbabwe now issues currency in denominations ranging from $100,000,000 to $50,000,000,000.
Reuter's Alert Net reported three weeks ago that a loaf of bread cost $600 million in Zimbabwe, and a 2 liter bottle of cooking oil $5 billion, the equivalent of a month's wages for a low-income worker. But, extrapolating a three week inflation period from the 4 million per annum rate, those prices are "yesterday's news" presumably having increased some 83,000 percent since that report was issued.
The inflation rate in Zimbabwe is now about 4 million percent, according to Yahoo!News. This is the highest inflation rate in the world.
What does a 4 million percent inflation rate mean in practical terms?
Consider the news reported at WCBStv.com about threshold milk prices in the United States. The threshold milk price reached $4.37 per gallon due to the rising costs of diesel used in the trucks that transport milk to grocery stores. The threshold price is the maximum price retailers are allowed to charge and is based on the price the Federal government pays the farmers for milk.
Now compare the United States milk cost with the milk cost in Zimbabwe. While Americans complain about milk costing over $4 per gallon, a mere pint of milk in Zimbabwe costs 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars, according to Yahoo!News, or 24 billion dollars per gallon. While 3 billion Zimbabwe dollars are only worth about 30 cents in United States dollars, imagine having to carry 3 billion dollars to the store to buy that pint of milk.
Customers walking into a store in Zimbabwe to buy the equivalent of $100 United States dollars in groceries would need to carry along nearly a trillion dollars to pay for those groceries. Does that mean that a Zimbabwean out to buy a television, a computer, or a car needs to go in search of a wheelbarrow first- to carry the necessary cash?
The Zimbabwe dollar is officially divided into 100 cents like the United States dollar. But those cents have become worthless in the face of 4 million percent inflation and are not used in practice. Zimbabwe now issues currency in denominations ranging from $100,000,000 to $50,000,000,000.
Reuter's Alert Net reported three weeks ago that a loaf of bread cost $600 million in Zimbabwe, and a 2 liter bottle of cooking oil $5 billion, the equivalent of a month's wages for a low-income worker. But, extrapolating a three week inflation period from the 4 million per annum rate, those prices are "yesterday's news" presumably having increased some 83,000 percent since that report was issued.
Comments
Holy Holsteiner!
"...Children died the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold..."
If you don't already know, find when those words are from. We are all headed to this point. Folks, lend you brother a helping hand, and give your sister the things she needs.
Carol, excellent points and comparisons.
Well, you have just made me feel much better about milk prices here! Thank you! :-) Great article.
Thanks for covering this story. Zimbabwe, and most of Africa, suffer from poor leadership
No one has seen anything like it since the days of the German Weimar Republic. Even South American hyperinflation was never so bad.
This is awful, isn't it? Well done on covering the plight of Zimbabweans.
Sophie
Now how insane is that? But I love the smug , self important looking cow pic! great reporting.
I read about the inflation - highest in the world- and heard many TV and radio (NPR and Pacifica News) reports. But this is well-written and very accesible. Well done!
Great article. I normally don't advocate the removal of world leaders, but this is just more proof that Mugabe must step down.
Very interesting, great title and super reporting!
Comments 1 - 10 (of 28)
Next >>
|
|