Money & costs
Money
Zimbabwe essentially has two economies: the one the government thinks it controls and where it fixes exchange rates and prints money, and the one where the market actually sets the prices. The second one is the functioning economy. Unfortunately for the visitor, both affect you. In mid-2006 the government chopped three zeroes from its currency.
At the time of writing the official bank rate was US$1 to Z$250 (previously $250,000). The market/parallel/black market rate is US$1 to Z$1000 (previously $1,000,000, and still rapidly increasing). Tourists must change at the official rate at the bank. Prices are set at the market rate.
Changing on the black market is only feasible if you know someone in the country. Changing on the street is both highly risky –with regard to getting ripped off – and illegal.
As a result, most tourists will pay up to two to four times the ‘actual’ price of a beer, sandwich or sculpture. It won’t make it like shopping in Manhattan, but nor is Zimbabwe anywhere near the bargain it once was. (Equally, a visitor may be lucky and visit when the bank rate is much closer to the market rate…but like so much in Zimbabwe, it is guess work and logic has little place.)
Most prices in this book are quoted in US dollars and for those where you will ultimately pay in local currency, our conversion is done at the more expensive bank rate (currently about one-quarter of the parallel market).
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