100 Trillion Thrilling Note

Zimbabwe will introduce a 100 trillion dollar note as the once prosperous country battles to keep pace with hyperinflation that has caused many to abandon the country's currency.

The new 100 trillion dollar bill would be worth about $300 in U.S. currency. A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe now costs about 300 billion Zimbabwean dollars! Like most commodities, the price increases every day.

The country is fighting cash shortages, stemming from the world's highest inflation rate. As of July, the official rate was 231 million %. The currency is in free fall, forcing traders to peg their prices to international currency to hedge against losses.

Most traders and workers demand their pays in foreign currency. Doctors and nurses have been on strike since last September, demanding salaries in U.S. dollars. The strike coincided with a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 2,000 lives. Teachers had left their jobs. The end-of-year examinations taken in November are yet to be graded and thus schools are yet to re-open.

What a mess! Could not imagine buying a loaf of bread using a suitcase full of money! Wallets are of no use, gotta bring the huge hiking haversacks wherever we go! Another interesting and chaotic scene expected when giving angpow to the kids! The kids would be overwhelmed to receive suitcase after suitcase of angpow. So the new trillion notes are supposed to solve the problem. However these kids would face another dilemma – probably could not take their eyes of so many zeroes!

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. Keep our fingers cross that it is going to be a bullish Ox!