/ 5 May 2016

Reserve Bank introduces Zimbabwe ‘dollar’

Zimbabwe's stock exchange was Africa's best-performing market last year
Zimbabwe's stock exchange was Africa's best-performing market last year

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya says he will soon introduce the Zimbabwean bond note as the liquidity crisis continues biting the investment-hungry country.

Speaking at a press conference at the central bank on Wednesday, Mangudya said he would introduce four new bond notes in future.

“The Zimbabwe bond notes of denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20 shall, therefore, be introduced in future, as an extension of the current family of bond coins for ease of portability in view of the size of the US$200-million-backed facility,” he said.

The family of bond coins was introduced in December 2014, when Mangudya rolled onto the market the 1c, 5c, 10c and 25c family of bond coins, and in March 2015, introduced the 50c which he said was to boost price competitiveness.

The introduction of the new bond notes, he said, was to mitigate against possible abuses of the US$200-million foreign exchange and export incentive facility the central bank has established.

“In order to mitigate against possible abuses of this facility through capital flight, this facility shall be granted to qualifying foreign exchange earners in bond coins and notes which shall continue to operate alongside the currencies within this multi-currency system and at par with the United States dollar,” said Mangudya.

He, however, made it clear that he was not slowly reintroducing the Zimbabwean dollar since the environment was not conducive.

Mangudya also did not give a time frame of when the new notes would be in circulation. – African News Agency (ANA)