100 Trillones

Authentic banknote from the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank, the Zimbabwean dollar existed from 1980, when its value was superior to the US dollar, until 2009, when it stopped circulating. Due to hyperinflation, even 100 trillion dollar banknotes were printed. A loaf of bread reached a price of 550 million Zimbabwean dollars. Global grain trade is done in US dollars, and the inflation and devaluation of other currencies is compared to US dollars, which results in consumers acquiring less food for the same amount of money. If a country does not produce enough of certain grains, it would have to be acquired in the international market in US dollars.

Inflation happens when there is an ongoing and massive production of money that is not backed by the production of real wealth (production of goods and services). The issuing institutions, either governments or central banks, fabricate currency to cover military expenses, finance national projects, pay debts, buy foreign currency, and acquire assets or subsidize government bonds. More paper money is printed now than in all history, but not all of it is in circulation. When new money is created or produced, it is managed through bonds, securities, and assets exclusively accessible for banks and governments. Governments and banks exchange assets in a closed market in which debts and losses are covered by citizens, when private debt is transformed into public debt, when there is an introduction of new indirect taxes, or when local currency gets devalued, among other means.

(Text written by TBA21 and used as short text in the booklet of the exhibition "Remedios", C3A, Córdoba, 2023)