ZIMBABWE:ZIMBABWE'S CRIPPLED economy and soaring inflation has prompted a growing number of locals to abandon the country's currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, for a more stable currency: petrol coupons.
Barred from using US dollars by the government and unable to conduct local currency transactions because of hyperinflation, auctioneer's Hammer and Tongues announced on Wednesday its first auction by barter will take place today in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.
"Homegrown solutions for Zimbabweans. Now we are selling in litres not in dollars," a statement from the auction house read.
Bidders interested in the dozens of cars and other goods on offer must make an initial deposit of 1,000 litres in petrol coupons, worth about US$1,500, and when they pick up their purchases they pay the balance in coupons.
The use of coupons has been adopted by many Zimbabweans because they hold their value in an economic climate in which hyperinflation is running at over 10 million per cent, according to independent financial institutions. Using local currency means the costs of products rise by the hour.
Zimbabwe-based Irishman Garrett Killilea, the owner of Lamont Engineering in Harare, bulk buys fuel for his company's vehicles from a local supplier by lodging an agreed amount of foreign exchange into their offshore bank account. He is then given coupons that cover the purchase's value. "It actually works out cheaper for us this way," he told The Irish Times.