In the suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare lies a Chinese invested shopping mall. The Horizon Ivato Supermarket is jointly managed by Chinese and Zimbabwe personnels. People there say it is good news that yuan could be directly used in the future.
“I believe it’s a positive initiative for Zimbabwe and China, I think it’s really going to help our markets as Zimbabwe grow, because we are going to have a multi-currency system which will then be able to be used to grow our local currency as well as to help us better exchange. So I think it’ll be a great initiative because we have a lot of companies which are investing in Zimbabwe as well, and China has been able to open a few companies, more companies are opening up each and every year, so definitely this is a positive impacts on our currency and it will really grow the economy from next year.” Darel Jonga, Area Manager, Horizon Ivato supermarket
“As for the coming in of Yuan for the Chinese, it’ll actually bring more investors in Zimbabwe, which will actually add more on our economy, business, more investors will come, which will actually add in our people being employed in Zimbabwe, they economy has been going down, so the coming in of Yuan in Zimbabwe will actually be a positive note in Zimbabwe.” Brian Hwande, HR manager, Horizon Ivato Supermarket
Customers of the supermarket were also thrilled.
“I think it’s very exciting, because we have ‘Look East ‘Policy and it’s going to strengthen our relationship with Zimbabwe since we have so many Chinese in our country right now, so I think it’s a very good idea and it’s going to be easy for us to use.” Chaline Runyowa, Customer
The Chinese yuan is becoming more international. The International Monetary Fund last month admitted the yuan into its benchmark currency basket, a recognition of Beijing as a global economic power.
