By Mathieu on 8/2/2008 10:32 AM
So, if you haven't already heard, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has once again devalued the currency, this time taking off 10 zeros. So, what was 10,000,000,000 (10Bil) now becomes 1 Zimbabwe dollar. The exchange rate to the US dollar just prior to revaluation was about 1 trillion to 1USD (using the RTGS or Bank Transfer rate). If that sounds confusing it is because it is... very confusing. Because of the cash shortages, there have been two different rates on the parallel market (aka black market). The higher rate (Bank Transfer) was in some cases 10 times higher than the cash rate (which ranged between 100Bil - 500Bil?). "Why," you ask? Well, checks take about 10 days to clear, bank transfers take over a week to be completed, sometimes as long as 2 weeks, and even if you had money in your account you were only allowed do withdraw 100Bil per day (that is 10 cents or 1 dollar, depending you which rate you use).&am ...
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