Zimbabwe Dumps Currency
This had to happen eventually. Zimbabwe has decided to allow Zimbabweans to conduct transactions in other currencies, not just the Zimbabwe dollar. The upshot: In the face of hyperinflation-induced irrelevance, the country is abandoning its currency.
"In line with the prevailing practices by the general public, [the] government is therefore allowing the use of multiple foreign currencies for business transactions alongside the Zimbabwean dollar," [acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa] said.
The country is in the grip of world-record hyperinflation which has left the Zimbabwean dollar virtually worthless - 231m% in July 2008, the most recent figure released.
Teachers, doctors and civil servants have gone on strike complaining that their salaries - which equal trillions of Zimbabwean dollars - are not even enough to catch the bus to work each day.
A 40-year-old Zimbabwean primary school teacher from the capital Harare, told the BBC news website earlier this week it cost nearly US$2 a day to travel to work, but inflation had reduced the average teacher's wage to the equivalent of US$1 a month.
More here.