Zimbabwe to Introduce New Bank Notes

Four months after the Zimbabwean government introduced its own currency, the Zimbabwean dollar is finally getting its own cash.

The country had used the US dollar as its official currency since 2009 in an attempt to stabilise the economy after experiencing biting cash shortages and hyperinflation.

It got to the point where cash was so worthless that people had just abandoned it altogether, instead opting for electronic forms of payment, such as debit cards and or mobile transfers.

The central bank has announced the new tender will enter circulation within a fortnight.

There are fears that its introduction could drive inflation higher, though central bank governor John Mangudya has sought to alleviate those worries.

He said earlier today “we [the central bank] thought of being conservative and we will graduate with time”.

Mangudya further said he believed the economy would contract by around 6.5 percent this year owing to droughts and power cuts that have hit the mining sector particularly hard, though the fundamentals remain sound, and he was confident it would recover.

He was optimistic month-on-month inflation would be at between 10-12 percent at the end of the year. 

Zimbabwe stopped publishing official economic data in June, but some economists believe the monthly rate was up at 380 percent in September.