A country without a currency

  I come from a country that does not have its own currency. It is a country that saw annual inflation reach an estimated  23,150,888.87%,  creating what is probably the world’s ever poor billionaires and trillionaires. At the height of the inflation the country had a One Hundred trillion dollar note. According to Wikipedia “The peak month of hyperinflation occurred in mid-November 2008 with a rate estimated at 79,600,000,000% per month. This resulted in US$1 becoming equivalent to the staggering sum of Z$2,621,984,228,675,650,147,435,579,309,984,228” In 2009 the government officially abandoned its currency and adopting a multi-currency regime, which uses foreign currencies, with the US dollar being the dominant currency. The country’s central bank now does not print any currency.      

The hyper-inflation has been blamed on the government going into over drive with the printing of the currency. The government has however blamed the hyper-inflation on economic sanctions that have been imposed on the country.   Cash Shortages The country is currently experiencing cash shortages resulting in endless bank queues as people desperately attempt to withdraw money which is currently mostly in US dollars and to a lesser extent South African Rand.      The government has proposed the introduction of an alternative home grown currency which it has termed bond notes. The proposed bond notes have met with resistance from the people whose memories are still fresh with devastating effects of the period of hyper-inflation. Despite its economic challenges Zimbabwe has the highest literacy level which is estimated at 91%, and the country’s internet access has been very rapid with an estimated 50 % of the population having internet access.  Crypto currency as possible solution currency issues The emergence of crypto currencies in particular the Bitcoin coupled with the high literacy and internet access presents an interesting combination for the possibilities of presenting an alternative monetary system for the people of Zimbabwe