Inflation Zimbabwe style (updated)

Shashank Bengali reports, via his blog, Somewhere in Africa, on inflation in Zimbabwe. He writes

After a catastrophic few years that have seen the economy crumble and inflation soar to 200,000 percent, Mugabe's most powerful political weapon – fear – appears to be eroding. To understand what 200,000 percent inflation means, a journalist friend I was traveling with, N., said that on Friday, he had lunch at a hotel in Harare , where a local beer cost 2 million Zimbabwean dollars (less than $1). He passed by the hotel after work the same day and the same beer was going for more than 4 million.

Update: Ken Rogoff talks about Zimbabwe's hyperinflation on National Public Radio, see Zimbabwe's Hyperinflation Poses Unique Challenges.