

Y2K 2.0: Banking software is not ready to handle Zimbabwe's inflation. - gaika
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/24/zimbabwes-money-worth-mor_n_114838.html

======
henning
I wonder if a lot of relational database schemata intended to store monetary
amounts can't handle amounts in the quadrillions.

PostgreSQL can only go up to 92233720368547758.07
([http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/datatype-
money.htm...](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/datatype-money.html))
-- 17 digits. Zimbabwe is pushing its limits.

SQL Server 2000's money datatype limit is a few orders of magnitude smaller
(<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa933242>(SQL.80).aspx), and so a 15
digit number can't be stored in it AFAIK.

~~~
neilc
The "money" type in Postgres is deprecated (e.g. see the locale-dependent
restore issues that doc link mentions). "numeric" is an arbitrary precision
data type that is probably a better choice for representing currency.

------
felipe
On the bright side...

Brazil also suffered from hyperinflation during the late 80s and early 90s,
requiring programmers to deal with the craziest policies you (or the IMF) can
imagine -- From nationwide account freezes to exchanging entire currencies
overnight. As a result, today Brazil has one of the most advanced banking
systems in the world, even compared to systems in the US and Europe, and
extremely competent senior programmers and innovators in the industry.

~~~
ovi256
Maybe we'll see some good mathematicians from Zimbabwe soon. You know, guys
that grew up counting in quintillions and using scientific notation every day.
They should have quite a knack for big numbers.

------
mdasen
<sarcasm> Hello, my name is Robert Mugabe. I am the Leader of Zimbabwe. My
treasury has excess funds that we cannot currently use in Zimbabwe due to
political circumstances. I would like to see this money put to good use and
you seem like a good person. If you send me $50,000 in good faith, I will mail
you 100 billion dollars within a month. </sarcasm>

Hey, it's a scam that's honest! Maybe ;-)

------
sethg
My first thought reading this, of course, was "they should have written the
ATM controllers in Lisp".

------
gaika
They just dropped 10 zeros to fix the bug:
<http://redwoodage.com/content/view/143539/49>

------
mattmaroon
Wow, call me crazy, but I'm buying one of those on eBay immediately.

------
RobertL
"Inflation" isn't zimbabwe's problem. Zimbabwe's problem is political tyranny.
It's a nation hell bent on self genocide.

We need to stop worrying about inflation there and "just let it go". Build a
fence around the whole country and don't let anyone in or out until nothing
moves inside but the wild animals.

~~~
rw
The people of Zimbabwe are not a buffer zone.

