Thursday, April 02, 2009

Uses Of The Zimbabwean Dollar

Despite the most recent hyperinflation it is not true that the Zimbabwean Dollar has lost its entire value; it may have lost its monetary functions of medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value, but has seen a shift in the Dollar's utility in the form of...

1. Advertisement material, as below
and more below...

The ads signifies as signs of political protest by a domestic media outfit against the administration, excerpt from neatorama.com

``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. Check out the photos from the newspaper’s Flickr photostream.

"The Mugabe regime has destroyed Zimbabwe. It has presided over the brutal oppression of the opposition, a cholera crises, massive food shortages and the total collapse of their economy. Furthermore anyone brave enough to report this has been bullied, beaten and driven into exile. One such group is ‘the Zimbabwean Newspaper’. However, not content with having hounded these journalists out, the regime has slapped an import ‘luxury’ duty of over 55% on them which makes the paper unaffordable for the average Zimbabwean. In order to subsidize the paper they need to sell it in England and South Africa, to raise the foreign currency.

"A unique campaign was devised to promote the paper to raise awareness and increase readership. One of the most eloquent symbols of Zimbabwe’s collapse is the Z$100 trillion dollar note, a symptom of their world record inflation. This note cannot buy anything, not even a loaf of bread and certainly not any advertising, but it can become the advertising, it can be a powerful reminder about Zimbabwe’s plight and the need to hold someone accountable.

(hat tip: Mark Perry)

2. Tool for gold panning...
If it can't be used as money, then it can be used to pan for real "gold" money.

watch the Zimbabwe's Gold for Bread
video here


3. Lastly, as an alternative use for the toilet paper...

Hat tip: Freakonomics

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