Like all Zimbabwean banknotes, the new notes are actually bearer's cheques with an expiration date. They expire at the end of the agricultural marketing season in December.

This becomes the fourth set of high denomination notes to be issued this year alone. The RBZ has had to constantly introduce new bills as hyperinflation in the country continues unabated.

Only a fortnight ago, the central bank introduced Z$250 million and Z$100 million notes. A Z$50 million and Z$10 million note were launched in April and January respectively, while Z$250,000, Z$750,000 and Z$1million notes were introduced in December of last year.

Zimbabwe is battling the world's highest inflation rate, currently at 355,000 percent. The high inflation rate has ravaged the value of any new notes within just a few weeks, a trend that has caused frequent cash shortages. The Zimbabwean dollar is currently trading at Z$650 million to the $1 USD; barely two weeks ago, it was at Z$250 million to $1 USD.

The new Z$500 million note can hardly buy a meal at the cheapest food outlet as prices start at Z$700 million and yet a farmer can buy a second-hand refrigerator with a Z$50 billion Agro Cheque.

"They must be tired of always running the printer hence the decision to introduce the high denominations all at once," says Owen Bafana, a foreign currency dealer. "At the rate we are going, a fruit vendor will soon be hunting for an Agro Cheque to give someone change after purchasing a banana."

"We are only addressing the symptoms and not the problems of this economy which include low production in the manufacturing and agricultural industries," says independent economist John Robertson. "Assuming they print enough cheques to end cash shortages, the problem of so much cash chasing too few goods will remain, and as long as there is no production, we will continue battling high inflation."

Zimbabwe's economy has never recovered from the effects of President Robert Mugabe's violent land reform program in 2000 when he pushed more than 3,000 white commercial farmers out of the country, slowing agriculture production to a crawl.

Mugabe, 84, is currently set to contest a second round in the presidential election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Though Tsvangirai claims to have won the first round outright, according to official results, he fell short of a majority victory. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote, compared with Mugabe's 43.2 percent. And because Zimbabwean law requires a candidate to garner at least 51 percent of the vote to claim victory, the election runoff will be held on June 27th.

Mugabe's chances of re-election seem to remain slim given the fact that Zimbabweans in general are still bitter about the country’s economic collapse, a major concern in the first round of elections.

However, in what has been described as a way of arm-twisting voters before the next ballot, Mugabe has since waged a war of terror, using his military junta to terrorize voters countrywide. Civic groups have documented evidence of post-election violence largely targeting opposition supporters.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says 43 of its supporters and activists have been killed and scores forced out of their homes by militias loyal to Mugabe since the disputed March elections.

But surviving victims who have spoken out remain defiant, determined to see Zimbabwe regain its freedom and financial stability.



About the Author
Lelety Mabasa is the pen name of a Zimbabwean journalist based in Bulawayo. She has worked for both public and private owned newspapers in the country and holds a BSC Hons in Media and Society Studies from Zimbabwe's Midlands State University.