The U.S. public may be feeling a pinch of inflation’s rise, but it’s nothing compared to the stranglehold it has on Zimbabweans. On Saturday, the Zimbabwe’s Central Bank issued a new Z$100 billion banknote to try and combat the severe shortages of money.

How much will the new note buy? According to CNN and BBC reports, its not enough for lunch or, for that matter, a loaf of bread. Apparently, it is sufficient — at least for now — to purchase four oranges.

Zimbabwe is stricken by severe hyperinflation that some news agency’s have reported as high as 2,200,000% — the Zimbabwean government stopped providing figures long ago. Contrast that to an already outrageously high of 50,000 percent reported back in January when the central bank issued new $10 million notes.

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The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) has released their April 2008 banknote production figures. The BEP produced 709,120,000 notes that were worth a total of $13,532,800,000.

April figures show a slight decease in volume by nearly 75,000 notes compared to March banknote figures, but the total value produced is almost identical. Also similar was the production of notes in $1, $5, $10 and $100 denominations and the need to print Star notes. No $20’s were reportedly produced.

For the monthly comparisons by total weight of banknotes made:

• February came in at 1,432,122 lbs or 649,600 kilograms,
• March notes weighed at 1,728,446,180 lbs or 784,010 kilograms,
• And April banknotes weighted 1,563,342 lbs or 709,120 kilograms.

Spread across the 30 days in April and counting weekends and holidays, the BEP averaged slightly over 23.9 million notes per day with a total face value of approximately $451 million. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced 784,010,000 U.S. banknotes in March of 2008 worth a total of $13,501,800,000.

March figures reflect a volume increase compared to the total notes printed in February. However, the total value is slightly lower. In further March to February comparisons, for whatever they may be worth, the BEP reported zero $20s printed while doubling the amount of $5s produced.

There chart below also shows March had a fair share of Star notes.

For the final comparison and perhaps the most interesting, the physical weight of all the banknotes produced in February was 1,432,122 lbs or 649,600 kilograms. March notes weighed in at 1,728,446,180 lbs or 784,010 kilograms.

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The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced 649,600,000 U.S. notes in February of 2008 worth a total of $13,779,200,000.

Making currency is no small task in such volume. Spread across the 29 days in February and counting weekends and holidays, that averages to nearly 22.5 million notes per day with a face value of approximately $475 million.

Heavy? Yes … The weight of the notes produced in February totals to about 1,432,122 lbs or 649,600 kilograms.

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Zimbabwe’s Central Bank issued new banknotes, including Z$1 million, Z$5 million and Z$10 million dollar notes.

Notes like the new 10 million were released into circulation to combat extreme shortages of money. Bags of cash are needed to purchase simple goods at stores and extreme waits at financial institutions are normal when withdrawing money.

Zimbabwe is stricken by severe hyperinflation that some news agency’s have reported as high as 50,000 percent. Current official inflation numbers have not been published by the government.

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The number of counterfeit euro coins increased in 2007 by 29% over 2006. The European Commission reported 211,000 counterfeit coins were pulled from circulation by authorities compared to 163,800 in 2006.

The coin counterfeited the most was the 2-euro, which accounted for over 85% of the total.

Overall, approximately 585,000 counterfeit coins have been take out of circulation since the use of euro coins began back in 2002. Although the numbers would seem to appear alarming, the European Commission points out several positive factors:

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That much change could be a guru of joy for a lucky coin collector. But you may want to watch this CBS news video first! Okay, not so much joy - at least for the typical coin collector. The 500 pounds of coins are all foreign!

Every year New York City has been bidding their entire stockpile off foreign parking meter coins off because they find it economically unfeasible to sort and exchange them all. That makes sense since they receive pretty much every denomination from every continent in the world.

Why are foreign coins in U.S. parking meters? Although they’ve become smarter in recent years, the meters will still gladly guzzle a non U.S. coin or two… or three… or four… or…

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