Zimbabwe’s inflation rate has hit 290%, the second highest in the world after Venezuela.
Inflation was being driven mostly by the shortage of foreign currency, which had led to huge disparities in the exchange rate between Zimbabwe's surrogate currency, the bond note, and the US dollar.
Prices of basic commodities, such as cooking oil and flour, rose when the value of the bond note and electronic dollar collapsed on the parallel market.
United States economist and currency expert Steve Hanke has been advocating for the bond note to be scrapped, which he refers to as the "Zollar".
He says if Zim fails to remove the bond notes from the system, the economy will lapse within a year.
Venezuela, with the world’s highest inflation according to Hanke, is in a deep political crisis which appears to be reaching fever peak. There are intensifying efforts by the opposition to remove socialist president Nicolás Maduro.
Zimbabwe suffered severe hyperinflation in 2008 when the inflation rate reached 89.7 sextillion per cent, which forced the government to adopt the multi-currency basket.
During the hyperinflation period, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the statistical agency ZimStats could not keep track and stopped measuring and reporting on inflation.
- African News Agency (ANA)
