Zimbabwean Dollar

Forget cholera and hunger. The new kid on the block of crises in Zimbabwe is change.

Zimbabwe’s central bank on Friday introduced a Z-billion banknote, worth on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages.

Harare on a Saturday night is full of furtive politics, friendly strangers and the odd stray cat, as Chief K Masimba Biriwasha discovered.

Zimbabwe, grappling with a record 2,2-million percent inflation, has introduced a new Z$100-billion note in a bid to tackle rampant cash shortages.

Zimbabwe’s currency plunged to a new record low on Thursday, trading at an average one billion to the US dollar on a recently introduced interbank market.