Gasoline coupon is latest currency in Zimbabwe

Zimbabweans face acute shortages of local currency. Already gas coupons can be used to pay some household accounts. Many businesses also pay workers part of their earnings in scarce foodstuffs, or demand dollars for purchases, which is illegal.

"Where coupons become a currency it reflects the rapidly falling value of the Zimbabwe dollar. Barter selling provides something that holds its value," said independent Harare economist John Robertson.

Private financial institutions say Zimbabwe's inflation rate was about 12.5 million percent in May and estimate it has likely climbed to 50 million percent this month.

On Aug. 1, the central bank slashed 10 zeros from the plummeting local currency and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono warned companies against doing business in U.S. dollars. He said such transactions were still illegal and should be reported to police.

Obsolete coins have also been revalued, sending Zimbabweans hunting for coins they squirreled away in recent years.

Shops battled to count heaps of coins, causing long lines at checkout counters. One enterprising Harare business on Tuesday advertised coin weighing machines that even banks had discarded after coins went out of circulation in 2002.