Cynical Capitalist

 

The portfolio, snapshots of memorabilia and artifacts in the collection

 
Money

Highest Hyperinflations

 

1. Hungary 1946
monthly inflation: 13,600,000,000,000,000%
Prices doubled every: 15.6 hours

Hungary's highest denomination bill was One Hundred Quintillion pengo The situation was so dire that the government adopted a special currency adjusted each day via radio. When the currency was replaced in August 1946, the total of all Hungarian banknotes in circulation equaled the value of one one-thousandth of a US Dollar.

2. Zimbabwe, Nov. 2008
monthly inflation: 79,600,000,000%
Prices doubled every: 24.7 hours

When the $100 million bill was introduced, prices soared, and reports from the country described that the price for a loaf of bread rose from $2 million to $35 million overnight. At one point, the government even declared inflation to be "illegal" and arrested the executives of companies for raising prices on their products.

3. Yugoslavia, Jan. 1994
monthly inflation: 313,000,000%
Prices doubled every: 1.4 days

During the entire period of inflation (1993-1995), it is estimated that prices increased by 5 quadrillion percent.

4. Germany, Oct. 1923
monthly inflation: 29,500%
Prices doubled every: 3.7 days

Hyperinflation was one of the major problems plaguing Germany's Weimar republic during its last years of existence.

5. Greece, Oct. 1944
monthly inflation: 13,800%
Prices doubled every 4.3 days

Hyperinflation in Greece technically began in October 1943, during the German occupation of the country in WWII. However, the most rapid inflation occurred when the Greek government in exile regained control of Athens

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