This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Kansas African Studies.

What do you do when your 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwean currency is only worth about 40 cents in US dollars? If you are an creative, industrious Zimbabwean, you sell it at a hefty markup to tourists as souvenirs, or online to currency collectors. Not since it took a wheelbarrow full of Deutschmarks to buy one loaf of bread, has inflation been so, well, inflated. This rapid hyperinflation has led Zimbabweans to rely mainly on the steadier US dollar since 2009. Though those trillion dollar bills are no longer legal tender, they are still legal commodities, and those creative Zimbabweans mentioned earlier are getting upwards of 20 bucks per bill selling them to tourists and collectors. So, if you always wanted to be a quadrillionare, now’s your chance. But act quickly! Supplies are limited.

With thanks to Mackenzie Jones for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/us-zimbabwe-currency-idUSKBN0OS1YK20150612?feedType=nl&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews