Under Tito, Yugoslavia ran a budget deficit that was financed by printing money. This led to a rate of inflation of 15 to 25 percent per year.

After Tito, the Communist Party pursued progressively more irrational economic policies. These policies and the breakup of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia now consists of only Serbia and Montenegro) led to heavier reliance upon printing or otherwise creating money to finance the operation of the government and the socialist economy.

This created the hyperinflation, where consumer prices doubled in every 34 hours.

Between October 1, 1993 and January 24, 1995 prices increased by 5 quadrillion percent.