HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy. A shopper displays a $500 million Zimbabwean bank note. The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday. As high as they are, though, the bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges. The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar. Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.
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New bills officially come into circulation Monday
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Bills aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges
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Gideon Gono: Notes for "convenience of the banking public and corporate sector"
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The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar
@placeholder started issuing large bank notes in December, starting with denominations of $250,000.