Gradually, Then Suddenly
ZIM106a, 2022, 100 ZWD

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ZWD Banknote AA Prefix

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Note Details

  

Set Details
Note Description: 100 Dollars 2020 - Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird & RBZ
Grade: 68 EPQ
Country: Zimbabwe
Note Number: ZIM106a
Signatures/
Vignettes: 		- Sign. J.P. Mangudya
Certification #: 2091005-039
Owner: Revenant
Set Category: World
Set Name: Gradually, Then Suddenly
Slot Name: ZIM106a, 2022, 100 ZWD
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced in early April 2022 that they would be releasing a new $100 bill. At the time, inflation was running about 6-7% a month and about 66-72% a year – in fairness, that is actually lower than it had been and inflation had apparently been on a downtrend for a while at this point. But that is faint praise given that it was starting to notch back up and 70% annual inflation is still problematic to put it politely. The RBZ committee at the time talked about how it needed to “remain focused on inflation reduction” while also pointing to rising global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict – which had started only about 1.5 months prior at the time.

it is worth noting that these are dated "2020," suggesting that the notes were printed and ready in 2020 and that their release was just delayed for a while for some reason(s) I don't know. That would mean that Mr Cross was being honest when he said in Jan 2021 that the RBZ was looking at the release of “higher denominations” and that the RBZ announcement denying that they were considering anything above $50 at the time was a lie. Somehow, however, I don’t think it would shock a lot of people to catch the RBZ in a lie. However, Mangudya explicitly denied that there were plans for a $100 note in February of 2021.

By Jun 2022, just two months after this note was released, annual inflation had spiked from 72% to 192%. This spike likely validates the concerns that some were expressing at the time that releasing a series of higher and higher denominations too quickly would "spook" the populace and worsen inflation and inflation expectation problems. But it's not like the currency was doing well with them holding off on releasing these notes. Forever behind the curve with this series, the RBZ once again released a new note that could not even buy a loaf of bread when it was released.

Just two to three months after this note was released, in June and July 2022, some developments provided the surest signs yet that this attempt at restarting a Zimbabwean national currency has failed, and that this series is at an end.

In June 2022, the country announced that the US Dollar and other foreign currencies would be legal tender in the country for at least the next 5 years. The multi-currency system that reigned from 2009-2019 was supposedly brought to an end by the government outlawing domestic use of foreign currencies and the forced conversion of bank balances to the new dollar in 2019, but it probably never went away. They just stopped pretending in 2021 that they could outlaw it. This all comes less than three years after the RBZ stated repeatedly in October 2019 that there was absolutely zero chance that they would return to the multi-currency system.

In July 2022, the country announced that they would start issuing gold coins later that month that could be purchased for the value of the coins + production cost and used in domestic transactions or kept as an inflation hedge. Actual gold coins, struck possibly even for circulation. Can you even believe it? If it happens, I think that might be one of if not the first time that gold coins have circulated in nearly 100 years.

However, even with these announcements, the Zimbabwe dollar represented by this series, at least officially, was not dead. The government and the RBZ were still officially supporting it and saying it was an ongoing thing as of the summer of 2022. Unofficially, it might still be twitching, but it’s dead.

I said in 2021 that I thought this series was dead and ended at the $20 issue. I now think we really have seen the last of it. I think these were only released because they were already printed, but I don’t think the RBZ will waste any more money printing new notes for this series. They could prove me wrong again though.

The design of this note will look familiar to those familiar with Zimbabwean money. The front of the note is more or less identical to the other notes in the series with the exception of the color and the denomination and even the color seems very similar to the $50 note that immediately precedes it in the series. The reverse of the note features the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, which have not been featured previously in this series, but they have been featured on the national coins and currency over and over again dating back to 1980 with the $1 coin. I think the first appearance of the ruins on a note was on the $50 bill of the 2nd series of the 1st dollar (P-8), which was released in 1994.

Every time the ruins are introduced or featured in a new series of notes it is done with new artwork but the artwork always seems to focus on this one structure or feature of the ruins. I think this new design is notable also for the prominent placement of the milkwood tree. I bring up the old $1 coin from 1980 in part because, of all the prior artwork, this new note most reminds me of that old $1 coin.

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