Given the ever-shifting nature of the economy, variations on prices rising and occasionally falling, and the fact that in the case of Zimbabwe the numbers become meaningless, or at least mind-boggling, it is nearly impossible to know precisely what the rate of inflation is in that beleaguered country. But we do know this: Zimbabwe has the worst inflation in the world and it continues to get (seemingly) geometrically worse. The latest indicators are that the inflation rate has reached 160,000%, give or take a few thousand.
There is little reason to believe that figure will shrink, or even will grow more slowly in the days, weeks, and months to come. The Zimbabwe government is acknowledging the crisis, whereby people who have the country's virtually worthless notes have to carry it around in bricks and bales, by creating a new Z$250 million note last week and a Z$500 million note this week. The latter trades for $2 American. But if you have American dollars, or British pounds, or South African rands, you must be stingy about trading them for a currency losing its value faster than you can find anything to spend it on.
[Z$25 million is approximately what a dime would buy you if the exchage rates listed above prevails when you read this.]
