Hyperinflation 10 Worst Cases

1. Hungary 1946
Inflation at its peak reached a staggering figure of 13.6 quadrillion % per month! Thats 13,
600, 000, 000, 000, 000%. The largest denomination bill was a 100 Quintillion note. Prices
ended up doubling every 15 hours at the time.
2. Zimbabwe 2008
Prices doubled here every 24.7 hours in November 2008 and inflation reached levels of 79
billion-odd %. They eventually stopped using the official currency and switched to the South
African Rand or the $US. A loaf of bread ended up costing $35 million. This is the most
recent case. It was Mugabes land-redistribution program that caused this.
3. Yugoslavia 1994
In just the one month of January 1994 inflation rose by 313 million %. Prices doubled every
34 hours (which is nothing compared to Hungary). The currency ended up getting revalued 5
times in all between 1993 and 1995, all to no avail. The cause? A recession triggered by
overseas borrowing and an on-going political struggle in the 1980s and the following
decade.
4. Germany 1923
Adolf Hitler rose to power as a consequence of hyperinflationary pressure (at least one of the
reasons). Prices doubled every 3.7 days and inflation stood at 29, 500%. Germany was
crippled with the reparation payments after the Treaty of Versailles and the end of World War
I.
5. Greece 1944
Prices started rising by 13, 800% in October 1944 and they doubled every 4.3 days. The
trouble was the debt incurred by World War II.
6. Poland 1921
Prices rose in 1921 by 251 times in comparison with those of 1914. They doubled every 19.5
days. The Zloty was introduced as the new currency in 1924 in an attempt to start afresh.
Inflation stood at 988, 233% in 1924.
7. Mexico 1982
Mexico had a rate of inflation of 10, 000% in 1982 (due mainly to too much social
expenditure).
8. Brazil 1994
Inflation was 2, 075.8% at its worst in 1994. The Real was adopted in 1994 and it managed
to calm inflation down.
9. Argentina 1981
The highest denomination bill was the one million pesos note. The Peso was revalued three
times.
10. Taiwan 1949
This was a knock-on effect from China and the Chinese Civil War. The New Taiwan Dollar was
issued in June 1949. The monthly rate of inflation stood at 399%

Steve H. Hanke Professor of Applied Economics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
Most press reports about Zimbabwes fantastic hyperinflation are off the mark - way off the
mark. Even our most trusted news sources fail to get the facts right. This confirms the 95
Percent Rule: 95 percent of what you read in the financial press is either wrong or
irrelevant.
When it comes to the reportage about hyperinflation, there are no excuses. All 56 of the
worlds hyperinflations have been carefully documented in World Hyperinflations. This
record is available in the Routledge Handbook of Major Economic Events in Economic
History (2013) and has been available online since 2012 at the Cato Institute.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the main culprit, a prominent source of the faulty
data. EvenThe Economist magazine has fallen into the trap of uncritically accepting figures
pumped out by the IMF and further propagating them. Its no wonder that there is a massive
gap between the publics perception and economic reality. A gap that, ironically, The
Economist reports on this week.
The Economists most recent infraction on Zimbabwes hyperinflation appeared in the May
2016 issue. The magazine claimed that the hyperinflation peaked at an annual rate of 500
billion percent. Where did this figure originate? You guessed it. That figure is buried in
the IMFs 2009 Article IV Consultation Staff Report on Zimbabwe.
In reality, Zimbabwes annual inflation rate in September 2008 was 471 billion percent, not
500 billion percent. More importantly, Zimbabwes hyperinflation peaked in November, not
September. It was then that Zimbabwe recorded the second-highest hyperinflation in history:
a whopping 89.7 sextillion percent. This is 179 billion times greater than the IMFs figure.
That said, the IMF did attempt to cover its backside from questions about its hyperinflation
guestimate. 2009 Article IV Staff Report on Zimbabwe states clearly that data have serious
shortcomings that significantly hamper surveillance due to capacity constraints. Despite
the red flag, The Economistcontinues to blindly propagate a figure that is neither reliable nor
replicable. I stress the word continues.
It turns out that The Economist is a serial propagator of inaccurate IMF figures. The
magazine has cited IMFs incorrect figure of 500 billion percent before, in June
2009 and October 2015.
For accurate estimates of Zimbabwes fantastic hyperinflation that are used in the
professional literature - estimates that are reliable and replicable - the IMF and the financial
press corps should take a look at the following table from On the Measurement of
Zimbabwes Hyperinflation, which was published in The Cato Journal, (2009):