The life of Zimbabwe’s paper money has been extended by another year, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Saturday.
Zimbabwe’s latest set of bearer cheques was introduced in July last year, when Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono slashed three zeros from the local dollar to make life easier for Zimbabweans struggling with bulging purses and soaring inflation.
The bearer cheques, available in denominations of Z$1, Z$5, Z$10, Z$100, Z$1 000, Z$10 000, Z$50 000 and Z$100 000, were supposed to be a stop-gap measure until the economic situation was normalised and a new currency could be introduced. They were due to expire at midnight on Tuesday.
But what appeared to be a tacit admission of just how far Zimbabwe still has to go to tame inflation, Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi says they will now be in place until July 31 2008, according to the Herald.
Zimbabwe stopped publishing official inflation figures two months ago, when the annual rate was more than 3 000%.
There are widely differing estimates as to what the rate may now have reached: the Zimbabwe Independent weekly suggested on Friday that, based on a comparison of food baskets provided by the state Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, the figure is now 13 000%.
In early July, President Robert Mugabe introduced a controversial blitz on prices, ordering shop owners and managers to reduce the price of goods by at least 50%.
Operation Reduce Prices was touted as an inflation-reducing measure, but indications so far are that many basic goods were seized from shops and are now reappearing on the black market, at highly inflated prices.
Because Zimbabwe’s bearer cheques are not properly produced money, there are sometimes reports of counterfeits. Earlier this month, police uncovered a Zimbabwe-dollar counterfeiting ring at the Plumtree border post with Botswana, according to state media this week.
Their elaborate counterfeiting kit included bottles of anti-dandruff conditioner, yeast and a local brand of bleach. Eight Botswana nationals were arrested. — Sapa-dpa