It seems we have just reached another hyperinflation milestone. One of Zimbabwe’s popular wholesalers, Mahomed Mussa, now has large printed notices in shopping aisles, warning customers that if they take too long prices shown on the shelves may already be outdated.

One of the noticesin Mahomed Mussa warning customers about prices

Reminiscent of 2008

One of the horrors of 2008 was that if you, by some miracle, managed to find a shop that was not empty, you couldn’t be sure of the price you were going to pay. If there was a long line, those at the front paid less, followed by those in the middle. Those at the back always paid more.

Inflation had reached the level that prices changed every half an hour. Because most basics were in short supply people had to queue up for everything, including toilet paper.

We haven’t yet reached the hourly price change levels yet but these days prices are changing on a daily basis. 300% price hikes within the space of a week are now the norm as we have seen in the case of Surf, a locally made washing powder.