The very day I stepped off the plane onto the NDjili tarmac to meet Stan for the first time, Mobutu did the very same thing with the New Zaire set at 4NZ to the US Dollar, replacing the the old Zaire which used a 10 Million Z note.



Mugabe's no Einstein
Friday, August 1, 2008

President Robert Mugabe's portrait is displayed behind Zimbabwe's hyper-inflated currency. The central bank is issuing new notes with 10 zeros removed from them, effective Friday. Mr. Mugabe warned "entrepreneurs" against attempts at profiteering. (Getty Images)

With talks in South Africa set to resume this weekend on Zimbabwe's impasse, strongman Robert Mugabe has suddenly rediscovered his nation's disastrous economy. Not that Mr. Mugabe has applied the right lessons. On Wednesday, the regime rolled out an old classic in government economic illiteracy — a new zim dollar that simply knocks 10 digits off the old currency's denomination. So, a loaf of bread that previously cost Z$50 billion now costs either $50 billion of the old zim dollars, or $5 in new ones.