What are your experiences in investing under conditions of hyperinflation / high inflation?

[kiwing100]

There are forum members who invest globally or have experienced living in a country with hyperinflation.  Would be interested in hearing the personal experiences of those who invested under conditions of hyperinflation or really high rates of inflation.  Recent examples might include Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Latin America in 1970 / 1980's.  
 

What are your experiences in investing under conditions of hyperinflation?  

What worked?  What didn't work?

Were real rates of return achieved (i.e after allowing for hyperinflation) and purchasing power retained?

How did local residents preserve their purchasing power?  

Conventional wisdom is that real estate is a hedge against inflation.  Did local real estate preserve purchasing power? How did mortgage borrowers cope with a rapid rise in interest rates, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc. How did owners pay for rising costs of real estate if they couldn't sell the real estate and realise the gains due to hyperinflation?

Current economies in hyperinflation

Hyperinflationary economies as at June 2025
 

What is the impact and for whom?

Hyperinflationary economies

After considering the IMF WEO report and qualitative factors in paragraph 3 of IAS 29, entities with the currency of the following countries as their functional currency should apply IAS 29, ‘Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies’, as at June 2025:

• Argentina;
• Burundi (updated from June 2025);
• Ghana;
• Haiti;
• Islamic Republic of Iran;
• Lao P.D.R;
• Lebanon ¹ ;
• Malawi;
• Sierra Leone;
• South Sudan;
• Sudan;
• Suriname;
• Turkey; and
• Venezuela.

The projected three-year cumulative inflation of the economies in the list above is expected to continue to exceed 100% during the first half of 2025.

All economies that were hyperinflationary as at December 2024 continue to be hyperinflationary, apart from Ethiopia, which is no longer hyperinflationary from June 2025. In addition, Burundi is considered to be a hyperinflationary economy from 30 June 2025 onwards.

 

Edited December 18, 2025 by kiwing100

[Rainier]

5 hours ago, kiwing100 said:

There are forum members who invest globally or have experienced living in a country with hyperinflation.  Would be interested in hearing the personal experiences of those who invested under conditions of hyperinflation or really high rates of inflation.  Recent examples might include Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Latin America in 1970 / 1980's.  
 

What are your experiences in investing under conditions of hyperinflation?  

What worked?  What didn't work?

Were real rates of return achieved (i.e after allowing for hyperinflation) and purchasing power retained?

How did local residents preserve their purchasing power?  

Conventional wisdom is that real estate is a hedge against inflation.  Did local real estate preserve purchasing power? How did mortgage borrowers cope with a rapid rise in interest rates, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc. How did owners pay for rising costs of real estate if they couldn't sell the real estate and realise the gains due to hyperinflation?

Current economies in hyperinflation

Hyperinflationary economies as at June 2025
 

What is the impact and for whom?

Hyperinflationary economies

After considering the IMF WEO report and qualitative factors in paragraph 3 of IAS 29, entities with the currency of the following countries as their functional currency should apply IAS 29, ‘Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies’, as at June 2025:

• Argentina;
• Burundi (updated from June 2025);
• Ghana;
• Haiti;
• Islamic Republic of Iran;
• Lao P.D.R;
• Lebanon ¹ ;
• Malawi;
• Sierra Leone;
• South Sudan;
• Sudan;
• Suriname;
• Turkey; and
• Venezuela.

The projected three-year cumulative inflation of the economies in the list above is expected to continue to exceed 100% during the first half of 2025.

All economies that were hyperinflationary as at December 2024 continue to be hyperinflationary, apart from Ethiopia, which is no longer hyperinflationary from June 2025. In addition, Burundi is considered to be a hyperinflationary economy from 30 June 2025 onwards.

 

I’m very interested to hear any responses to this. I’ve always assumed that anywhere that is dealing with a prolonged extreme outcome like hyperinflation would also have high levels of corruption or iffy rule of law. If that is true, then I guess you have to risk adjust your expectations on return if there is a risk of losing your asset to confiscation or having to pay to protect your claim to it.

[UK]

On 12/18/2025 at 4:19 AM, kiwing100 said:

There are forum members who invest globally or have experienced living in a country with hyperinflation.  Would be interested in hearing the personal experiences of those who invested under conditions of hyperinflation or really high rates of inflation.  Recent examples might include Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Latin America in 1970 / 1980's.  
 

What are your experiences in investing under conditions of hyperinflation?  

What worked?  What didn't work?

Were real rates of return achieved (i.e after allowing for hyperinflation) and purchasing power retained?

How did local residents preserve their purchasing power?  

Conventional wisdom is that real estate is a hedge against inflation.  Did local real estate preserve purchasing power? How did mortgage borrowers cope with a rapid rise in interest rates, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc. How did owners pay for rising costs of real estate if they couldn't sell the real estate and realise the gains due to hyperinflation?

Current economies in hyperinflation

Hyperinflationary economies as at June 2025
 

What is the impact and for whom?

Hyperinflationary economies

After considering the IMF WEO report and qualitative factors in paragraph 3 of IAS 29, entities with the currency of the following countries as their functional currency should apply IAS 29, ‘Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies’, as at June 2025:

• Argentina;
• Burundi (updated from June 2025);
• Ghana;
• Haiti;
• Islamic Republic of Iran;
• Lao P.D.R;
• Lebanon ¹ ;
• Malawi;
• Sierra Leone;
• South Sudan;
• Sudan;
• Suriname;
• Turkey; and
• Venezuela.

The projected three-year cumulative inflation of the economies in the list above is expected to continue to exceed 100% during the first half of 2025.

All economies that were hyperinflationary as at December 2024 continue to be hyperinflationary, apart from Ethiopia, which is no longer hyperinflationary from June 2025. In addition, Burundi is considered to be a hyperinflationary economy from 30 June 2025 onwards.

 

 

I was to young to invest at the time, but my family went through a period, when money in out country basically turned to the toilet paper (actually twice different currencies in a short period of time). At the end, we as a kids were either using them as a monopoly game money or were buying some (not much) candies with all these 500 nomination bills:)). The only viable alternative for most people who had at least some wealth (not that many did at the time) was real estate and it worked really well to protect their purchasing power and later even rerated and provided extra returns because of the improved economy (this part could happen or not). But this was not investments done to earn some big returns in this regime at the time, only mainly not to lose and to protect, if you had something. Not really any other alternatives at the time for general public. There was also lots of other interesting stuff going on at the time, some things almost like in the book The Black Obelisk (this is fictional book by Remarque, but it is good anyway and right on the subject), but these endeavors were either reserved for few people (e.g. who managed to get loans from the state banks at the time as few infamously did) or you had to take some serious additional asset or even health risks:)). Real estate was kind of available to everyone, it was publicly registered (not so easy to take away, like some pile of metals in the garage:)) and doable/easy to understand for most. 

 

Edited December 20, 2025 by UK

[SharperDingaan]

Young enough to have had the Zimbabwe experience. 

 

If you could leave, you left as soon as possible to start life again elsewhere; all investment goes into your head, and expertise in working the system. If you could not leave, you spent everything you had on food, as soon as you got it. Where possible, partnerships with farmers to both grow livestock & vegetables for the table, under armed protection.

 

ZWD 1M notes in the monopoly set; ultimately worth more as a framed collage to put on your wall. Corruption, bribery, & expropriation the norm. Your best investment is in smuggling expertise; financial over the physical, commodities over the usual trade goods. Your opponent is the central bank, & its associated apparatus.

 

Escape, and you will both land on your feet anywhere, and be very hard to kill. Thereafter, the hardest part will be learning how to do things the 'normal' way in your new home ...utter 'ugh' at times!

 

With a foreign income, you can live like a king in these environments, for a ridiculously cheap cost. But you live in a gilded cage, and need a fool proof escape route as security; obviously not for everyone, and subject to material self selection.

 

Quite a few who escape, will work/retire in a EU/NA country, earn the foreign pension, then temporarily move back for the first decade or so of retirement ...  a choice to either live frugally in the EU/NA, or temporarily live a lot better in XYZ nation, while also having the funds/ability to travel around while there, while you still have the ability and energy. The live in a coastal South African city, enjoy the nearby ocean/abundant seafood, and go on an annual  land (Botswana/SWA/SA) or sea (Mozambique channel to either a Dar-es-Salaam/Mombasa or Madagascar) safari ... for 2-4 months/year. Compared ..... to wintering in a Colorado/Arizona or Florida. 

 

Not that unusual for anyone who comes from the 2nd/3rd world, but it's limited to only those who were able to leave, and those who do. Obviously .... completely alien if you grew up in the EU/NA, and typically follow. 

 

SD

 

 

Edited December 21, 2025 by SharperDingaan