“The government has resorted to various expedients to stabilize the economy, including issuing gold coins and launching aHARARE, Zimbabwe—After the sun sets in Harare, the streets of Zimbabwe’s capital suddenly burst to life.
The juice vendor, Shingirirai Goriondo, 23, claims that he gets more customers than the retail outlet he operates in front of. Officially standing at more than 280 percent in April, analysts estimate the inflation rate is in fact somewhere over 700 percent.Economists blame the crisis on a steep depreciation of the local currency on the black market—where most trading takes place.
This has brought back memories of 2008, when hyperinflation was so out of control that restaurant-goers would see the price of their dinner change before they could finish eating it.The government was eventually forced to ditch the local currency and adopt the US dollar as legal tender.