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According to reports in late December, many German women then in the last stages of pregnancy were turning to folk remedies in order to delay giving birth until January 1; a new government plan intended to improve Germany’s declining birthrate awards bonuses of up to $33,000 for each child born in 2007. Meanwhile, a New York Times columnist estimated from previous years’ figures that about 5,000 financially savvy pregnant women in the U.S. would induce labor before January 1 at least partly to take advantage of 2006 tax breaks.
Between January and February the annual inflation rate in Zimbabwe, believed to be the world’s highest, climbed from 1,593 percent to 1,730 percent; in early February the country’s central bank responded by declaring further inflation illegal. According to an Associated Press report, the amount of Zimbabwean currency that in 1990 would have bought a three-bedroom house with a tennis court and a swimming pool will today buy a brick.
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