Is Zimbabwe printing a new currency akin to buying homeowner’s insurance as the house fire is raging? The country best known in financial circles for hyperinflation is Zimbabwe. In February 2007 inflation, driven by a near worthless fiat currency, exceeded 50% per month, or 12,875% per year, Cato Institute Senior Fellow Steven Hanke noted. The country famously once erased 12 zeros from its beleaguered currency during this period, when the denomination was the $100 trillion dollar bill, and is considered the poster child for monetary debasement. Fast forward to 2016 and will history repeat itself? With a trade deficit ballooning and the country gasping…
Here We Go Again: Zimbabwe Printing New Currency Amid Stress
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.