“We are saying that since you can import/export goods from South Africa you can use the rand. dollar is the preferred currency in Zimbabwe at present, but others are welcome. You’d have to pay for your coffee before you drank it because if you waited the cost would rise within minutes,” said businessman Shingi Minyeza, chairman of Vinal Investments. Prices would change by the minute, causing stress revolving around the fluctuations, one of the devastating effects of hyperinflation. “We didn’t have the tools to fight the monster that the economy was facing at the time.” dollar as its official currency.įrom excessively high inflation to -2.3% deflation, Mangudya remembers the tough years vividly. When inflation hit 230,000,000 percent in 2009, the country’s reserve bank – infamous for its inability to contain sky-high hyperinflation – declared the U.S. It is fetching significant higher prices as a novelty item on websites such as eBay. dollars until the end of April 2016, but it was worth only about $0.40. The note, along with previous hyper-inflated denominations including Z$10,000,000,000,000 (ten trillion) and Z$1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion), could be exchanged for U.S. Zimbabwe used to have a Z$100,000,000,000,000 note - one trillion Zimbabwean dollars.