Four Seasons Before Lunch Gauteng (Pretoria)

 I have lived in Pretoria for half my life, but even at almost 50, l still am not ready for mornings like this . I step out of  home in the morning at 7 a.m., greeted by a warm, gentle breeze and sunshine so golden it felt like summer had arrived overnight. The sky was clear; the jacaranda trees glowed purple; the air smelled of warmth and possibility. “Perfect day,” l muttered, locking his door. By the time l drive out—five minutes later—the sky starts to be darkened. A cold wind came crawling in from nowhere, sweeping dust across the pavement. The temperature dropped so suddenly that  l have  to switch the heater for warmth. Laughing. “Ah, Pretoria… you never disappoint.” Halfway to the office, the heavens opened. Not soft rain— a storm . Sheets of water hammered the road, street gutters overflowed instantly, and distant thunder rolled like a grumpy giant waking up too early. People scattered, hiding under bus shelters already too full.  “Ten minutes ago...

What can you buy with Zimbabwe's new 50 dollar banknote?

 

50 dollar banknote?

What can you buy with Zimbabwe's new 50 dollar banknote?
FILE - A man counts a wad of the new Zimbabwean ten-dollar notes received from an ATM outside a bank in Harare on May 20, 2020.  -  
Copyright © africanews
JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP or licensors

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe's central bank on Tuesday announced the introduction of a new 50-dollar note, the country's highest denomination, worth only around US$0.60.

Insufficient to pay even for a loaf of bread, the bill's entry into circulation has revived memories of the hyperinflation the southern African nation experienced over a decade ago.

As price growth spiralled out of control, denominations at the time mounted as high as a 100-trillion-dollar note.

Award-winning journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin'ono scoffed at the new banknote, which at the unofficial black market exchange rate will be worth just $0.35 in US dollars.

"It tells you something about inflation in your country if you need 3 notes of your highest currency denomination to buy a premium beer in a supermarket," tweeted Chin'ono.

The new note is the latest and most valuable in a series introduced from February 2019 as Zimbabwe moved back to using local currency.

US dollars had been used since 2009, when the country trashed its own worthless units after hyperinflation reached 500 billion percent.

Now the new denomination is stoking fears of a return of the kind of hyperinflation that wiped out savings and collapsed the economy, with head-spinning daily leaps in the prices of goods and services.

Last year Zimbabwe's inflation rate soared to more than 800 percent, but it has begun easing with the June year-on-year rate officially at 106.64 percent, according to the National Statistical Agency.

The central bank had forecast inflation to slow to 55 percent in July.

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