Gradually, Then Suddenly
ZIM102a, 2019, 5 ZWD

Slot Comment:

ZWD Banknote AA Prefix

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Note Details

  

Set Details
Note Description: Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
5 Dollars
Grade: 67 EPQ
Country: Zimbabwe
Note Number: ZIMUNL5a
Signatures/
Vignettes: 		- Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird & RBZ
Comment: Exceptional Paper Quality
Certification #: 8070134-017
Owner: Revenant
Set Category: World
Set Name: Gradually, Then Suddenly
Slot Name: ZIM102a, 2019, 5 ZWD
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

The government announced yet another new currency was coming in June 2019 and said, in October 2019, that new $2 and $5 notes for the new currency would be coming in November 2019. Inflation, ever present with Zimbabwean currency, was over 300% in October 2019 - the loss of the peg to the US dollar had caused the value of the bond notes and the RTGS dollar to collapse. This led to shortages of foreign currency, fuel, and food. The ‘new’ currency, called the Zimbabwe dollar, used the currency code ZWD, the currency code of the 1st dollar, and incorporated the bond coins, bond notes, electronic bank balances and the RTGS dollar - making you wonder how it was ‘new’ if it rolled all of that over.

As 2020 started the mining sector gave one of the first and clearest signs that the new ZWL and ZWD would not survive long. The mining industry is responsible for bringing most of the foreign currency into the country and the employees know the mining companies are getting US dollars for the diamonds they dig up. And those miners wanted to be paid in US dollars - not in the new Zimbabwe dollars that were already losing purchasing power way too fast. The problem is the mine bosses often do not want to pay the workers in the more valuable foreign currency and disagreements have sometimes escalated to violence and shooting. Mine worker unions have had to negotiate on a quarterly basis not only the pay the workers will receive, but also what percentage of that must be paid in US dollars - using official rates, which are generally higher than "real," market rates.

Zimbabwe, coming up on the 40th anniversary of its independence (April 18, 2020), was listed as one of the world’s top global food and hunger crises by a UN report. The country was in crisis before anyone had heard the word “Coronavirus,” but that just made things worse. The government reintroduced price controls in April 2020. This was done amid food shortages, fuel shortages, and commodity prices spiking across the board.

In May 2020, in yet another desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, the government re-introduced a peg of the ZWD to the USD at 25:1 – but at that point the currency had already been trading at 360:1 or more. This represents a 99.7% loss of value for the bond notes in 4 years - the residents of the country can hardly be blamed for their lack of confidence in the currency.

Inflation (in ZWD) reached 785.55% in May 2020, according to official statistics released by Zimstats – you need about 1000% annualized inflation or 50% monthly to meet previously referenced definitions of hyperinflation, but let’s be honest – that’s hyperinflation. Again.

The new notes issued in late 2019 (this is one of them) used the same design as the bond notes that had been issued just a few years prior, but the new issues removed the words “Bond Note” from the front and back of the notes. The $5 note uses an image of giraffes on the back. I do not think giraffes were ever shown so prominently on the Zimbabwean currency before.

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