The loss of confidence in public banks and financial institutions when inflation has risen to nearly 200 percent has meant that Zimbabweans are starting to invest in a new asset — cows. Whole-price inflation has continued to rise across the world as the cost of food and fuel has skyrocketed in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, more and more households have been looking for safe investment opportunities. For the residents of the African country of Zimbabwe, who have lost savings in banks and pension funds over the past decades, bovine investments are proving to be quite popular, reported DW.

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Asset management companies in the country are coming up with creative ways for investors to hold ‘units’ of cattle. Through unit trusts that are based on cattle purchases, the investors are able to own certain units of cattle based on their investment. The bovine instrument vehicle is proving to be popular in inflation-prone country due to its ability to withstand price shocks.

While these companies are reinventing ways to invest in cattle, in rural Zimbabwe and other parts of the world cattle still remains as a large source of wealth. The United Nations’’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that livestock accounted for 35-38 percent of Zimbabwe's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

But just like any other investment, livestock isn’t completely free from risk. Drought, disease and infection can decimate livestock populations and send investments plummeting. But some economists still think its worth the risk.

"To have investments in cows or animals is a better investment opportunity than gold coins," economist Gift Mugano told DW. Mugano stated that for volatile countries, livestock is a stable investment opportunity.

Zimbabwe has famously struggled with hyperinflation since 2007 as a result of ZANU–PF President Robert Mugabe’s disastrous Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The country’s inflation had soared to such an extent that the country completely stopped printing its own currency and by 2015 completely switched to the US Dollar.