5) And for Zimbabwe to resolve its economic problems we need to acknowledge and accept the mistakes of the past and make an audit trail, assess the current state, and re-launch. But in that backdrop, no re-launch will succeed without a new national culture convention. Zimbabwe is in dire need of a new national culture: The Software of Mind in every individual, household, community, region, and statehood. We need to download the existing national culture that is affected by a virus and re-load a new national culture that re-deploys power back to the communities and households. National culture is what makes us functional as a nation.

4) 🇿🇼 *2009- ZANU PF IS SAVED BY THE COMING OF MDC...GNU* In his mid-year budget, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, appointed in February as part of the unity government, announces the local currency will be demonetised, saying he is “putting a tombstone on the grave of the Zimbabwe dollar”. 🇿🇼 *2013 – In March 2013,* concern grows as Zimbabwe slips into deflation. 2014 – RBZ authorises use of a dozen currencies to trade alongside the dominant US dollar. The currencies include the Indian rupee, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. The bond coin is introduced, as a means of ending the shortage of small change. 🇿🇼 *Mugabe* sensationally announces that 15 billion USD worth of diamonds cannot be accounted for 🇿🇼 *2015 – ZANU PF COMES AGAIN ON THE PICTURE* The Zimdollar is finally demonetised, with depositors getting US$5 for every 175,000,000,000 ,000,000 (that’s 175 quadrillion) Zimbabwe dollars held. Each 250 trillion Zimdollars gets $1. 🇿🇼 *2016 – INTRODUCTION OF BOND NOTE TO EASY CHANGE.* The RBZ announced it would launch a bond note, which would be at par with the US dollar. The bank calls it an export incentive, a deliberate twist of PR meant to ease fears in an economy still traumatised by memories of 2008. It is months before the first notes appear. 🇿🇼 *2017 – US DOLLAR DISAPPEARS FROM THE MARKET.* Bond notes and US dollars start disappearing from the market. Government spending is rising, fuelling inflation. There is widespread black market where the Bond is alleged to be siphoned from RBZ by some cronies in Zanu PF. In September, consumers go panic buying after rumours of shortages. Prices rise foreign currency shortages deepen. Inflation, once again, is back on the march. And then. 🇿🇼 *2023* The gold Mafia documentary highlights how the Zimbabwe government syphons gold out of the country through underhanded deals

3) 🇿🇼 *2008 – HYPERINFLATION.* This is the year Zimbabweans wish they could forget. Gono’s money printing presses are running overtime, so much that the RBZ runs out of ink and paper. Inflation is at its peak, which the World Bank put at 500 billion percent. The Zimdollar is now worthless, with an egg costing $50 billion. On January 1, the $1 million, $5 million and $10 million denominations make their debut. A few months later, in April, new $25 million and $50 million bills are printed. On May 2, the $100 million, $250 million and $500 million notes are released. Just two weeks later, on May 15, new notes in denominations of $5 billion, $25 billion and $50 billion notes debut. The RBZ’s printing press, at this time, is failing to keep up. Ten zeroes are removed from the currency, and the $10,000 and $20,000 notes are released in September. Weeks later, on October 13, a new $50,000 bill is on the market. Before long, on November 5, new $100,000 and $500,000 bills appear. Then, on December 4, Zimbabwe gets even more notes; $1 million, $10 million, $50 million and $100 million. Within two weeks, the $200 million and $500 million notes are released. These are soon followed by the $1 billion, $5 billion and $10 billion notes, just a week before Christmas. Gono even puts old worthless coins, last used six years earlier, back into circulation. This sends many burrowing into wardrobes and in the back of sofas for old coins. “Go back and look for those coins because we never demonetized them in the first place,” Gono says. Suddenly, an old one dollar coin is now worth 10 billion of the new dollars. Already, retailers have been quoting in foreign currency, although the word “points” is used to denote one US dollar. Clearly, something has to give. Grudgingly, that April, RBZ finally began to let go, forced by the market. On September 13, Gono introduces the Foreign Exchange Licensed Warehouses and Retail Shops (Foliwars), Foreign Exchange Licence Oil Companies (Felocs) and Foreign Exchange Licensed Outlets for Petrol and Diesel (Felopads). The grandiose abbreviations, typical of the Gono era, are just big words announcing the legalisation of the widespread use of forex. Some 1,000 retailers and 250 wholesalers are now allowed to freely trade in forex. In ALL these processes there is massive LOOTING and coverup by Zanu PF cronies. On the last day of that year, one US dollar was trading at $4 million on the official market. In reality, the rate was far higher. An RBZ statement reports that bank computer systems are now “failing to cope with the number of digits arising from large transaction values”. Gono tells a meeting that the RBZ will now buy forex at the UN rate, really an informal rate used by NGOs. 🇿🇼 *2009 –ONE TRILLION INTRODUCED.* On January 16, Zimbabwe makes history; it releases a $100 trillion note, the largest denomination ever seen in the world. It is later to become a collectible, and a symbol of failed economic management. Zimbabwe effectively dollarises on January 29, when, for the first time ever, a budget is presented in both US dollars and Zimdollars. Acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa reels off the dizzy numbers, including $175 quadrillion for grain imports. His budget speech is accompanied by howls of laughter and derision from MPs. The move to USD overnight eradicates hyperinflation, but the economy soon swaps hyperinflation for deflation. The Zimdollar remains in circulation, although nobody is using it. On 2 February, the RBZ removes a further 12 zeros off the currency. In total, 25 zeroes were removed from the Zimdollar. This was the beginning of the end of a currency that at Independence in 1980, was stronger than the US dollar, trading at 1ZWD: US$1.54. In August, Gono proposes return of Zimdollar. He is criticised sharply, even by The Herald, which calls him out of touch and unable to “read the national mood”.

2) 🇿🇼 *2003 - RBZ PRINTS BEARERS CHEQUE.* Zimbabwe is now producing less than half its 1996 exports. Pressure is building. That September, RBZ introduces bearer cheques in denominations of $5,000, $10,000 and $20,000. Initially, the bearer cheques are only valid up to January 31, 2004. Again there is a lot of looting at RBZ and other banks by Zanu PF cronies. Zimbabwe’s reserves are down to under US$20 million, about 3 days’ worth of imports. 🇿🇼 *2003 -GIDEON GONO APPOINTED GOVERNOR.* In December 2003, Gideon Gono was appointed RBZ governor. It is a decision that is to have a major impact on the future of the currency. Later, a leaked US embassy cable was to quote IMF mission chief Sharmini Coorey describing Gono as “the world’s worst central banker by far.” One of Gono’s first decisions was to tighten control of central bank’s accommodation of banks. This leaves many banks in crisis. 🇿🇼 *2004 – lIQUIDATION OF BANKS* Still unwilling to float the currency, the Government comes up with a Managed Foreign Exchange Auction System that January. Exporters sell a quarter of their forex at a fixed rate of Z$824 and another 25 percent at an auction rate. Exporters keep the other half in their foreign currency accounts for up to 21 days, after which they must offload the remainder at the auction rate. Gono's sector measures start taking toll on banks. On January 3, Century Discount House shuts down. Eight other banks are kicked out of the clearing system for failure to fund their RTGS positions. More bearer cheques arrive in January, with a June expiry date. That same June, another batch comes, this time with a December 31 expiry date. However, even those cheques with a June expiry date remain legal tender. The cheques are mocked by the public. There is LOOTING at RBZ, and still this has nothing to do with SANCTIONS. At the launch of Barbican Bank, Murerwa jokes: “I know you are all concerned about the current cash crisis. I am too. I am however more concerned because I am now being called Mr Burial Cheques.” 🇿🇼 *2005 – THE FOREX AUCTION SYSTEM COLLAPSES.* The forex auction system isn’t working. So, on October 21, Government replaces it with the Tradable Foreign Currency Balances System (TFCBS). Under this system, there is a dual exchange rate system; market transactions are done at an interbank rate, while Government transactions are done at the fixed official rate. It obviously doesn’t work. 🇿🇼 *2006 – OPERATION SUNRISE. ZIMBABWEAN DOLLAR DEVALUATION.* The dual exchange rate system is replaced in April, and all transactions are now at the interbank rate. The rate collapses. The Zimdollar is devalued again in July to $250. New bearer cheques arrive, in a series of 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 50 cents, $1, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $10,000 and $100,000. Then, on August 1, the madness begins. Desperate, RBZ lops off three zeros from the currency. Gono launches a massive marketing campaign, dubbed “Operation Sunrise”, hoping to package this as a good thing. “Say no to zero and hello to hero,” Gono says. 🇿🇼 *2007 – INFLATION* On the 7th of September, the Zimdollar is devalued again to $30,000. Still, the Government is playing catch-up; on the black market, the Zimdollar is ten times weaker at $300,000 per US dollar on the parallel market. Desperate, the Government tries to ban inflation; retailers are ordered to cut prices by half. It does nothing to stop inflation and shop shelves go empty. The Government stops publishing inflation stats regularly. On July 1, a $500,000 note is introduced, but it is valued at just US$12 even at the official exchange rate. On New Year’s Eve, RBZ launches a $750,000 note.

1/2 *📰 History Of Zimbabwe’s Economic Collapse* 🇿🇼 *1997 – $50000 TO WAR VETS WITHOUT BUDGET.* War veterans hold a serthxies of protests against Mugabe, pressing for gratuities and pensions. Mugabe buckles, and orders Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa to dole out ZW$50,000 each to over 50,000 war veterans. Total bill =ZW$3.5 billion. None of it is in the budget. Mugabe dismisses concerns, including from Murerwa, that the spending will bankrupt the economy. 🇿🇼 *CHAOTIC LAND GRAB.* The Government announces its intention to list more than 1,400 farms, many of them productive, for redistribution to landless blacks. The IMF and other donors threaten to pull out. 🇿🇼 *FISCAL INDISCIPLINE.* spread that foreign reserves are down to just a month’s worth of imports. Speculators, panicked by the flurry of bad news, start stocking up on US dollars. Desperate, the Government injects US$15 million to try and prop up the economy but its too late. 🇿🇼 *BLACK FRIDAY.* November 14, the Zimbabwe dollar plunges 72%. The stock market crashes 46%. That same day, by coincidence, there is a national blackout. The day comes to be known as “Black Friday”. In the aftermath, Government orders companies to shut down their foreign currency accounts, hoping the flow of US dollars onto the market will put brakes on the Zimdollar’s slide. But it has the opposite effect; confidence collapses even further, as does the stock market and the Zimdollar itself. Investors head for the exits. McDonalds, the US fast food giant, abandons plans to open its first outlet in Zimbabwe. 🇿🇼 *1998 – NATIONWIDE RIOTS.* Riots hit the country in January after the price of basic goods rises by up to 50 percent, blamed on the collapse of the Zimdollar. Maize meal prices rise by 45% within a week. Army is deployed for the first time in years to quell the riots. “They will not hesitate to shoot,” Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa warns. 🇿🇼 *1998 - DRC WAR.* Government introduces price controls and a range of tariffs on imports. In August, Zimbabwe enters the DRC war. Some estimates said the country spent US$1m a day to fund the war, further weakening the local currency. 🇿🇼 *1999 – FOREX SHORTAGES* Zimbabwe runs out of forex. Zimbabwe has defaulted on most of its foreign debt by mid-year. The IMF finally confirms its intention to withdraw funding. This leads to further exchange controls. The Government fixes the Zimdollar rate at $38 to USD way above its true value. 🇿🇼 *2000 – CABINET RESHUFFLING* Murerwa is reshuffled out. On August 1, new Finance Minister, Simba Makoni, bows to market pressure and devalues the Zimdollar to $55 to the USDollar, still lower than the parallel market rate of $60 for a USDollar. In the same week, unions, businesses and activists stage a nationwide stay away to protest the economic crisis. 🇿🇼 *2001 — RBZ PRINTING MONEY* A $500 note is issued, and is followed by another different $500 note within weeks. A $5 coin is also introduced. 🇿🇼 *2002 – MAKONI FIRED.* Mugabe rejects Makoni’s pleas for further devaluation. “Devaluation is sinister and can only be advocated for by our saboteurs and enemies of this government,” Mugabe tells him. Makoni is soon fired, and Murerwa is reappointed. Government shuts down all bureaux de change, accusing them of being “conduits” of illegal forex trade. 🇿🇼 *2002 IMF SUSPENSION* In June, the IMF suspends technical assistance to Zimbabwe because of arrears amounting to US$132 million. This had nothing to do with SANCTIONS. 🇿🇼 *2003 – RBZ PRINTS TRAVELLERS CHEQUE.* The RBZ introduces what it calls traveller’s cheques, in denominations of $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 to $100,000. Zanu PF loots a lot of travellers cheques from RBZ. They are hugely unpopular and are soon quietly phased out.