Zimbabwe dispatches: vanishing money
Updated on 03 June 2009
Money in Zimbabwe is safer under the bed than in a bank after zeros are wiped from the value of currency and banks find new ways to charge customers, writes Helen.
The last time I checked my bank balance I had six trillion, three billion and 400 million dollars in my account. That was in January 2009.
I have not spent or withdrawn any of that money but when I phoned the bank recently they said all the money had gone.
The bank I am talking about is not a fly-by night, dubious, back-door operation but a reputable, international organisation.
The last bank statement I received was almost two years ago in August 2007. Despite paying no interest to their customers for a number of years, the bank said they had stopped sending statements to their clients because they could no longer afford to do so.
This was despite the fact that they charge customers for every service including withdrawing and depositing cash, use of the ATM, depositing out of town cheques and even for scribbling one’s account balance on a scrap of paper at the enquiries desk. Not to mention ledger fees, administration fees and more.
All of these normal banking activities, and abnormal charges, collapsed in March 2007 when Zimbabwe stopped using its own currency and began trading entirely in US dollars. It was inevitable that something dramatic had to happen because Zimbabwe’s money situation had reached ludicrous proportions.
In 2004 a number of banks, investment houses and building societies were closed overnight by Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono. Anyone with their life savings in one of these institutions lost everything.
Next came the removal of three zeroes from the currency in August 2006. A thousand dollars became one dollar at the stroke of a pen and again we all lost as banks raised their minimum balance requirements and then charged customers huge penalties for having insufficient funds in their accounts.
Thousands of accounts were simply closed down by the banks – no warning, no refund of remaining moneys, just gone.
In August 2008 when inflation stood at 231 million per cent, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono took more digits off the currency but this time it was dramatic: 10 zeros were removed. 1 billion dollars became 10 cents, 1 trillion dollars became 100 dollars.
Within days banks restricted the amount of money people could withdraw from their own accounts. We had to queue for hours to withdraw the daily maximum amount allowed which was enough to buy less than half a loaf of bread.
Each time zeroes were dropped, new bank notes were introduced and the old ones gathered dust in boxes under beds as they became nothing more than worthless scraps of paper.
Range of Zimbabwe dollar notes.
Most of the banks are now facing collapse with staff on 2 day weeks or on extended unpaid leave. Old customers whose millions, billions and trillions disappeared in the zeroes debacle, are suddenly being urged to come back and open new accounts. They are called FCAs (foreign currency accounts) but already the absurd conditions are in play.
Deposit your US dollars, the banks urge, but then you can only draw out US$200 a day. There are no cheque books for US dollars, no ATM withdrawals will be allowed and you will pay US$3 for every withdrawal.
I don’t think so. The money is safer under the bed.
Zimbabwe currency, now worthless, stashed in a house.
