Zimbabweans are nervous about the country’s planned new currency.
The new “Zimbabwe dollar” which hasn’t been revealed yet in paper form is supposed to replace the US dollar and South African rand that the country has used since 2009.
Hyperinflation of the old Zimbabwe dollar rendered it worthless ten years ago when the government printed money recklessly and the economy collapsed. There are fears of a return of destructive hyperinflation once the Zimdollar is fully reintroduced.
The central bank announced on Monday that US dollars and rand would be replaced by two local parallel currencies — “bond notes” and electronic RTGS dollars, which would combine to become the new “Zimbabwe dollar”.
Bond notes were introduced in 2014, while electronic RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) dollars came in earlier this year.
Both were in theory worth the same as US dollars, but have traded far below the greenback in value.
“This is all so confusing,” said Shamiso, a shopper in a Harare supermarket. “A few months ago we were told we would not have a new currency soon — now we are told the Zimdollar is now the only currency we can use.
“We don’t even know what it looks like. This does not inspire confidence. We need to plan and how do you plan when things change overnight?”
Nomuzi Moyo, a 21-year-old cashier at a leading supermarket in Victoria Falls, said they had been ordered to stop accepting US dollars.
“We still don’t understand where all this is going, and as for the prices there has not been any communication,” she said
He added that foreign currencies had left the country at the mercy of US dollar pricing which fueled inflation.
However, his political opponents believe the public will not trust the new currency.
“The government wants to introduce the Zim dollar to pay civil servants and its restive army. All this is a damp squib,” Tapiwa Mashakada, MDC’s secretary for policy and research, told journalists.
